An Atypical Couple
by Kaien Brief
Summary: Hermione goes back in time to spy on Tom Riddle and his Death Eaters only to end up stuck in the past and intrigued by a certain Slytherin. CBHG
1. Chapter 1

**So I was reading a Tomione story that had Cygnus Black crushing on Hermione and the idea intrigued me. I went to the archives to find any stories of this odd and random pairing… zero, zilch, nada. I'm going to fix that. **

**Disclaimer: As much as I like the thought of living in England I'm Texan not British, if I created/owned Harry Potter it would be bad. American HP would be bad not even gonna think of how bad a southern one would be.**

The war dragged on and on while the death toll climbed higher and higher. There was no where safe to hide unless you had a way to get to the western hemisphere and even then it was only a matter of time before the war followed.

The Golden Trio never stayed in one place. Constantly migrating from one place to the next all while trying to stay safe and useful in the war took a toll on the teens. One day Harry convinced his friends to go back to Hogwarts.

"Dumbledore always knew what to do," he said, explaining his reasoning to Hermione and Ron.

"But he's dead," Ron reminded him.

"Do you really think Dumbledore didn't leave a back-up plan? He knew he was going to die he had to have left something!"

Hermione just sat there for a moment in their tent contemplating the plan. "Might as well, we have no idea where the next horcruxe is, maybe we'll find a clue there."

And so with that the three teens packed and went back to the castle they had called home for the past six years. With the help of the invisibility cloak, Marauder's Map, and a perfectly timed prank by Peeves-thus distracting Snape and Filch- the three got into the castle. Once in they went to the only teacher they knew they could trust: McGonagall.

When they revealed themselves to their Head of House she was both surprised and relieved that they were well. She led them to her quarters where she sat them down and gave them the first real meal they had had in a long time."I assume you are here because you need help?"

"Yes Professor," Harry answered, "Did Dumbledore ever leave anything? As a back-up plan?"

The woman sighed, "Yes but only if there was absolutely nothing else to be done." She was gravely serious and the trio wondered what the plan possibly could be. "Dumbledore found a way to enhance the time turner, allowing the user to go back decades not just mere hours. However going back that far would create a parallel universe. There is no guarantee that the user could ever come back to this dimension. If the user planned on coming back it is advised you change as little as possible so Dumbledore's plan was to have someone spy on Riddle and his followers at school and try to come back with the information or give up their life here and simply kill Riddle."

"Either way we'd probably end up stuck in World War II, right?"

"That is correct Ms Granger."

"No bloody way!" the red head exclaimed, "There has to be another way."

"Not that I can think of right now Mr Weasly. Now I'd suggest you hide in the Room of Requirement for the night before someone catches you."

The teens thanked her for her help and did as they were told. As the boys got ready for bed Hermione started thinking. Her friends left her in her own little world assuming she was coming up with a plan. She was indeed doing just that, she was thinking of going back in time.

xxCBHGxx

"Professor McGonangall?" Hermione whispered as she crept into the teacher's quarters again. She was careful hoping to not awaken the older woman too rudely but her caution was unnecessary. The professor sat in the living room with a package in her hands. She fingered the brown wrapping and twine knot tenderly and looked up at her student with sad eyes.

"I had a feeling you would come back." She waved Hermione over to sit down next to her. "Dumbledore did too, he always knew you would be the one willing and able to do it."

Hermione couldn't speak for a few minutes, she was too nervous. "Make sure the boys don't do anything too rash when they find out I'm gone, please. My parents are already obliviated so you won't get any trouble from them."

"Of course Hermione," McGonangall reached over to her coffee table and picked up some envelopes. "Here is your paper work, you'll be called Hermione Grim from America where you have been homeschooled your whole life. Grim is a rather common American wizard family name like Smith. Your mother has fallen ill and is bedridden, no longer able to teach you. She and your father who works at a book store has decided to send you to Hogwarts because of the reputation. You are listed as a pure blood but if for whatever reason you want to be listed as a half blood you can easily change the papers along with any other information. However being a pure blood would make things easier for you as would being sorted into Slytherin house if you can manage it. Go to Dumbledore first; he'll make things easier for your entering into school since transfers are pretty much unheard of."

"Thank you Professor," Hermione's voice was tight and controlled.

"You do know this does not have to be done, we could wait-"

"And let more people die? What are the chances of my coming back?"

"If you impact people as little as possible and are powerful in magic, which you are, there is a good chance you can come back."

"Good and then if it fails I could kill him while he's weaker then there will be at least one dimension free from fear." Hermione's voice was stronger now and she was firm now in her choice. She just knew that this was something she needed to do.

"If you are sure. Just remember: keep a low profile, go to Dumbledore if you have any trouble, and remember that you are the best student and bravest young woman I have ever met." Both women got teary eyed as McGonagall summoned a black duffel bag filled with clothes and school supplies that Hermione would need. The teen changed into a simple olive green day dress that buttoned from the waist up and had a black belt and matching black heels. Next McGonagall cut and styled her hair to fit the era and helped with her make-up. It was simple and natural other than the bright red lipstick. With a wave of her wand Hermione shaped her eyebrows to complete the look and a spell to give herself an accent from the American Midwest._(AN that's the one actors and newscasters use) _ Hermione looked into the mirror and saw a girl straight from a vintage fashion magazine.

Hermione felt more tears coming and did her best to hold them back and mumbled to herself, "Deep breathes girl, you can do this. You are a Gryffindor." Head held high she took the bag and slung it over her shoulder and walked into the Transfiguration office, this would be Dumbledore's office in the forties and would be the safest place to appear. Hermione hesitantly opened the package and found inside a time turner like her old one but larger with three rings labeled 'day', 'month', and 'year.' On top was a window the date.

"Turn each ring until you've reach the desired date and the press down on the top."

"Thank you Professor, I'll be back soon."

"I hope." The elder woman waved goodbye as the younger turned back the rings and traveled through time.

xxCBHGxx

Hermione had always been too busy and too responsible to ever get drunk but right then she was pretty sure she knew what a hangover felt like. She held her head and moaned as the room slowly stopped spinning.

"Miss, I believe school does not start for another two days." Turning around quickly Hermione looked into the twinkling eyes of her late Headmaster.

"Professor!" She ran and tackled him in a big bear hug, completely forgetting the situation.

"Excuse me but I don't believe I have met you before? Or," Dumbledore looked at the time turner around the girl's neck, "should I say 'yet'?"

Hermione backed away and blushed, "I am sorry, sir. It's just after what happens…"

"Please don't tell me, as much as I would love to hear the story we must think of the mission you are obviously on. Now I assume there is some information you should be giving me?"

Hermione nodded her head and relayed her alias' information. She was then told to stay in the Room of Requirement, just like before, as he went to get her enrolled. She stayed there preparing her story and herself for her first day of school in the forties.

The days past by rather quickly and soon Hermione found herself being introduced by Headmaster Dippet along with the first years to the student body awaiting her second sorting.

She was the last to be called up. She was more nervous this time than last, back then where she ended up was not part of a plan to save the future. This time she had to convince the hat that she needed to be in Slytherin, it was hard enough the first time convincing the hat she should be in Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw. The hat was placed on her head by Dumbledore who gave her an encouraging smile.

"_Interesting, very interesting. Brains of a true Ravenclaw and bravery of a true Gryffindor, a hard decision this would be except you seem to have made the choice for me. You are determined to fulfill your mission and after all you've been through I will not deny you that. Besides you will need some Slytherin cunning to accomplish your task. _SLYTHERIN!" Applause filled the hall as the last student was sorted and the feast appeared. Hermione felt horribly awkward not knowing where she should sit at the snakes' table, she could not sit with the first years and doubted the older years would give her a seat. But to her surprise a group of seventh years waved her over to sit with them.

"Hello," greeted a pretty but snobby looking girl with blonde hair, "My name's Druella Rosier and this," to two rather unattractive brunettes, one with watchful eyes and the other looked empty headed, "is Cynthia Goyle and Eleanor Crabbe."

"It is very nice to meet you," Hermione said while thinking _'Should have known, they can't be direct ancestors but there is a resemblance.'_

Crabbe decided to take over the introductions, "Those are my cousins, Cygnus and Orion Black. Next to them is Abraxas Malfoy, a prefect, and our new Head Boy Tom Riddle." Crabbe continued to introduce some more future Death Eaters and other students with recognizable pure-blood names while just smiled and tried to be polite to future monsters. Hermione had to admit she was surprised by Voldemort's not only normal but handsome appearance. Orion Black looked like his future son Sirius did as a student and was friendlier than his companions but not by much. It was still obvious he thought he was better than everyone else, the same mindset as everyone else at this table. Malfoy gave her the same condescending gaze that his grandson did, in fact the resemblance between them was uncanny. Sitting between the two was Cygnus, the only one who didn't appear to be _completely_ full of himself. He was tall and had a lean build with black hair and dark blue eyes that almost looked black, a strong jaw and prominent cheek bones. His nose was a little on the large side but overall had a handsome face. Hermione looked between Cygnus and Abraxas, the two future grandfathers of Draco Malfoy and briefly wondered how the supposed to be recessive genes won out.

After answering a few questions as vaguely as possible the Slytherins began to ignore her and return to their food and gossip. Hermione did not mind, she was not here for friends but for work and she planned on leaving as soon as possible. However unknown to her Riddle had some other plans in mind. _'Grim is a rather large and influential pureblood family in the States, it would be nice to have some foreign followers.'_

xxCBHGxx

Hermione Grim was a recluse. To everyone around her she was a loner who kept to her books and hardly ever spoke. She never raised her hand in class despite the strong urge, she didn't go to Hogsmeade with anyone, she didn't even study with anyone despite some pleas. When no one was around, which was quite often, she would disappear and spy on Riddle and his followers. However she couldn't get too much information and what she gathered was very vague. They were secretive to the extreme and the only way someone could get the information she needed was to be part of the group itself. Finally in October Hermione realized staying here was useless, she was terrified of not being able to go home and she could not do what she needed so she packed her bags and took up her time turner.

"Goodbye 1945," with those mumbled words she pressed the button and… nothing. She tried again and nothing happened. "Okay, don't panic, I'll just go see Dumbledore and be on my way." Hermione tried her best not to sprint all the way to the transfiguration classroom.

The stressing teen only took the time to make sure the classroom was empty before yelling "Professor! Professor!"

"What is it Ms Grim?"

"I have to go back but the time turner…"

"Give it here child." Professor Dumbledore examined the magical object and found a small almost invisible crack in the glass. "It appears the jump back was too much for the material. I'd have to make a new one but I have far worse news."

Hermione's eyes widened, "What could be worse?"

"Miss Grim I've been doing some research and I'm afraid that despite your efforts you cannot go back to your time. You have been here too long, the damage is done I'm afraid there is nothing I can do." Seeing the young girl begin to break down he placed a comforting hand on her back. "Now now, do not give into despair. I'm sure you have a plan b. Fulfill your mission and begin a new life. Hermione Grim has the potential to become the brightest witch of this age." Hermione's tears were held back long enough say her thanks for the support before running out. Out of the room, out of the castle, out to the Forbidden Forest in search of fresh air and solitude.

The now hysterical teen crumpled underneath a tree and just cried. She went through every good memory she had and cried for the loss of her friends and family. Hours passed and Hermione lost track of time, her sobs had quieted just enough to hear that she was not alone. She pushed her honey brown curls out of her face and wiped her eyes before sneaking around the tree to get a look.

Hermione looked around the tree and saw Riddle, Malfoy, and the Blacks. They had obviously heard her and were all looking in her direction. She was about to sneak away when Riddle called out, "Is someone there? Show yourself!"

'_I don't really have a choice do I? Since you are standing between me and the castle.'_ Hemione held her head high and walked out, planning on walking right past them and to a new hiding spot to finish her grieving. But the boys had other ideas.

"Something wrong Grim?" the deep voice belonged to Cygnus Black and, to Hermione's surprise, sounded genuinely concerned.

'_Must be some sort of act.'_ "Sorry but that's none of your business," she snapped. Her emotions would not allow for any tact tonight.

Orion walked up to her with one of his smooth smiles, "I'm sorry for my cousin's nosiness but he meant well. We just want to know if are alright?" Hermione walked around him, determined to ignore them before she could pull herself together.

"I guess what they say is true, Americans have no control over their emotions." Malfoy's condescending tone made her snap. She turned on her heel and whipped her wand out of her arm holster before holding it against his throat.

"I'm not in the mood for your attitude or your insults and I am telling you right now that I am not someone you want to mess with." Hermione's voice was cold and scarily calm. Her actions were scaring the crap out of Malfoy, shocked the Blacks, and Riddle just looked pleasantly surprised.

"So quiet little Grim has a bit of a temper does she? My apologies we will leave you alone." Hermione knew better than to trust Riddle but she really didn't need to be expelled for hexing Malfoy to kingdom come. So she withdrew her wand and went back towards the castle. The boys just watched her until she was out of earshot, "Cygnus follow her and make sure she doesn't see you."

xxCBHGxx

Hermione hurried out of the forest, checking over her shoulder every once in a while only to see nothing. She tried to think of somewhere where she could gather her thoughts and calm down but she also needed someone. She needed someone to listen to her and make her feel at home. At home she always had the boys or… Hagrid! He should be back by now. With a new hope that she may not be so lonely Hermione ran to Hagrid's hut.

Not far behind Cygnus followed after her and soon had to begin running also just to keep her in sight. When he realized she was running to that oaf's hut Cygnus was very confused. _'The fool owns murderous pets, surely she's heard about what happened to Myrtle. Then again she does keep to herself. Is this where she goes whenever she disappears?'_

Cygnus snuck into the bushes and watched Hermione knock on the door. A minute later the half giant opened the door and asked who she was and what she wanted.

"My name's Hermione Grim, I know this sounds weird but I do know you, I was hoping if I could come in. My parents just *sniffle* died and I…"

"Well o' course you can come in Miss Grim, I ave some tea on the stove if you would like some. You'll ave ta explain ow you know me though."

"Please call me Hermione. I would love some tea and I'll try to explain." As Hagrid let the girl in Cygnus snuck up to the window trying to hear their conversation. "Well you see Hagrid I I sometimes have visions, not very clear but I have seen you before..." Cygnus could tell she was lying even if the oaf couldn't and her lies just confused him even more. _'What is she hiding? And what else could she be lying about?'_

A few hours past and the two inside were talking away as if they were the best of friends while the poor outside was freezing in the England's October weather. Words cannot describe how relieved he was when he heard Hagrid taking his guest to the front door.

"Well 'ermione it's getting close to curfew, you need to go back to your dorm. Feel free to come by anytime, it was a pleasure getting to know ya."

"Thank you Hagrid and I promise to come back. You are probably the only friend I have here," Hermione said forlornly.

"Now I can't believe that, nice pretty girl like you I'm sure everyone wants to know ya better, 'specially them boys. It's a wonder ow ya got into Slytherin." Hermione gave the large man a hug and a dazzling smile before saying good bye one last time and heading to the castle. She reminded herself to tell Dumbledore about her 'dead' parents, she had a feeling she'd need to use that story quite often now that she was stuck here.

Cygnus continued to trail her undetected but she made no other detours on her way to the dungeons. Inside the common room his companions from earlier who he joined as Hermione went up to the girl's dorms.

Orion and Malfoy were playing wizard's chess while Riddle just sat in his chair thinking about something. The Head Boy heard Cygnus walk up to him, "What did you find out?"

"Her parents are dead and she went to Hagrid for comfort. Thing is Hagrid has never seen Grim before despite the fact she claims to know him. She tried telling him she had visions of meeting him before, the fool bought it I didn't."

"Do you think she's telling the truth about her parents?"

"Yes but I think there's more to it than that."

The other two boys were listening now and Riddle addressed them all, "Ms Grim's family could be very helpful to our cause. We should comfort her in her time of need don't you think gentlemen?"

"Of course milord, except I think Malfoy should sit this one out, Grim might try hexing him again," Orion snickered.

Malfoy growled, "Shut up."

"That incident proves she could be useful in our group in more than just connections. She looked like she knew what she was doing and how many girls do you know with wand holsters? Or anyone for that matter? Malfoy will help if he's careful not to insult her."

"I will try my best sir."

"But Riddle," Cygnus ignored the slight narrowing of his leader's eyes, "shouldn't we learn more about her? There is something different about that girl."

Riddle thought about this for a moment, "Okay then you can gather all the information you want on her. One of us is going to end up spending more time with her than the others perhaps you can ask her to Slughorn's dinner he's having in about a month, hmm?"

Cygnus didn't look too sure but said, "Alright if you think that's best."

xxCBHGxx

**AN: So how was it? Did I scare people away from this pairing forever or just from my writing? Please ****review**** and if you're going to criticize be constructive. **

**I was going to make this one long chapter but I'm running out of time and unfortunately have homework to do and I think it might be easier to read in three parts. Tell me how to improve for the second third :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you Aurelia, UnicornTamer, and GK94. Oh and for anyone that's curious the story that prompted this one is called Corsa di Tempo. And I found out today who (or I should say what) the 'apple' part of Drapple is, I thought it was some minor, forgettable character. I've heard of some weird pairings but that's just… odd.**

**Disclaimer: I ain't JK Rowling and therefore do not own these characters**

Hermione woke up feeling terrible; it was obvious she had cried herself to sleep. She silently thanked Snape for his silencing charm for she wanted to avoid the other girls' questions as long as possible. Finally, after a few minutes of just lying there, Hermione dragged herself out of bed and to her vanity. The other girls were already busy getting ready for the day when Goyle noticed her red tear stained eyes.

"What happened, Grim? We didn't see you come in last night."

"I I rather not talk about it right now Goyle," her voice was scratchy from her sore throat.

The larger girl got up and walked over, placing a hand on Hermione's shoulder, "Please call me Cynthia, Goyle is such an ugly name. If you need to talk I'm here to listen."

The former Gryffindor would never get used to Slytherins being nice, ever. "Thanks Cynthia, I'll keep that in mind." With that the two went back to studying their reflections in their own respective mirrors.

Hermione cleaned off her face but was not in the mood to deal with even the simplest of make-up charms. Nor did she want to twist hair up in some vintage do. Finally Hermione decided she would simply braid her hair like her mother used to when she was little. It was simple and comforting and besides it was casual Friday.

Hermione ended up arriving at the Great Hall much earlier than usual and took her usual seat next to a quiet fifth year who kept to herself. There was no question in Hermione's mind that Snape inherited his anti-social tendencies from his mother who was currently for some test.

"Good morning Eileen."

"Good morning Hermione."

Every morning the two girls said the same things to each other, the only conversation between them for the most part and yet somehow they had ended up on a first name basis. Aside from Hagrid now, Eileen Prince is the only one in this time period to ever use Hermione's first name. And despite their limited conversation they knew a lot about each other simply through casual observation. Now that Hermione was free from worrying about the future perhaps they could develop a real friendship.

The Great Hall was peaceful filled with the sounds of silverware clanking, quiet conversation of the early risers, and text book pages turning. This ambience was broken by the arrival of Tom Riddle and his group. _'They look like a gang,'_ Hermione idly thought. Instead of heading to their usual spot they came to where the two girls sat. The Blacks came and sat down next to Hermione with Cygnus closest to her. and on the other side of the table sat Riddle, Malfoy, and another boy she recognized as a future Death Eater.

"Good morning Grim," Riddle said pleasantly, "I'm not sure if you two have properly met, do you know Dolohov?"

"Yes I do." _'More than I would like to,' _Hermione shivered slightly at the memory where this teen held her hostage at the Ministry. She turned to the person in question, "I believe I sit behind you in potions, correct?"

Dolohov only gave a curt nod earning what looked like a reprimanding glare from Riddle. "I'm sorry, he's not much of a talker," he said trying to excuse his friend's behavior.

Orion looked around his cousin, "If you don't mind my asking, what were you doing all by yourself in the forest? It is rather dangerous you know, surely you've heard the stories."

She debated the pros and cons of answering before giving him the truth, "I went there to be alone and I assure you I can take care of myself." At the end she gave a pointed glare to Malfoy as a warning.

Orion started laughing loudly, "I'm sure you can. We are supposed to have some duels in DADA today, maybe you'll get to show us your skills."

"Professor Stayne will be surprised," Cygnus mused, "girls rarely ever participate in the duels."

"Well that's just stupid," Hermione scoffed, "do they think they'll never be attacked just because they are a girl? If anything that heightens their chances of attack since everyone thinks they are weak."

The Great Hall was beginning to fill and along with the influx of students came Hermione's roommates. The girls normally ignored Hermione but Rosier has had her eye on Cygnus and became a bit jealous when she saw him sitting next to her plain roommate. She walked over to the group and forced herself into the small space between Hermione and Cygnus while her two companions sat on the other side of Eileen who at this point looked rather crowded and annoyed.

"Sooo," Rosier began in her snobbiest and most flippant tone, "you looked like an absolute mess this morning, and still do, is something wrong?"

"Thank you Miss Congeniality, your concern is touching."

Rosier continued, "You know if you keep acting like that you'll never find a husband."

"As if that is the most important goal in my life."

Crabbe decided to join in, "Well it should be who will take care of you after you graduate? You can't burden your parents forever."

"Well unlike you I can take care of myself. I'll get married when the time's right." All the girls and a couple of the guys gave her odd looks. They had never heard a young woman, especially a pureblood witch, speak of marriage in such a way.

"I'm sure your parents are not happy with that. What do you plan on doing when they begin arranging a marriage? Running away?" Rosier asked.

Hermione looked the blonde right in the eye and told her very seriously "My parents would never do that to me." Thinking of them just reminded her of the obliviate spell and of how much she missed them. A few tears came to her eyes before she excused herself and left the Great Hall to find some empty corridor to mope in.

Riddle saw this vulnerability as an opportunity to get some information on the strange American. "Perhaps someone should go check on her," he prompted, eyeing Cygnus.

Cygnus was all too happy to get away from the clingy Rosier much to her despair. "I'll go."

"No I will," Eileen said as she stood up with him.

"There's no need, I can handle it." _'You'll just get in the way.'_

"Look Hermione's my friend and I'm a girl. No offense but I'd probably do a better job comforting her," the quiet girl countered before chasing after Hermione.

Rosier grabbed Cygnus' sleeve, "Just let them go, it's not your problem." But he ignored her, yanking his arm away he began walking after the two girls. He ended up finding them in an empty part of the castle not too far away. Grim was sitting in a windowsill looking out to the sky thoughtfully and Prince was jumping up to join her.

"Hermione tell me what's wrong." Eileen said this gently, almost in a whisper, but made it obvious that she would find out.

'_Well I have to do this sooner or later.'_ "My p-parents are d-dead. They're dead."

Eileen's eyes went wide, "I am so sorry. How did this happen? Do you need anything?"

"I'll be fine, don't worry. Dragon pox, Mom was already so weak she caught it easily and then Dad had to take care of her." Hermione put her face in her hands and tried looking as believable as possible. It worked and soon Eileen had her arms wrapped around the orphaned girl in a comforting embrace. Neither girl noticed Cygnus approach them until he put a hand on Hermione's back.

Eileen growled at his intrusion of this private moment, "Black, I thought I told you I would handle it."

"Well I'm sorry I'm concerned, Prince." His dark blue eyes shifted onto Hermione, "I'm sorry to hear about your parents I wish I could help. If you ever need anything just tell me." Hermione eyed him warily. She could not believe a Death Eater could be sincere in that offer, especially the future father of Bellatrix, but he seemed to be just that.

"I will. Thank you Black."

He gave her a consoling smile, "Please, call me Cygnus."

xxCBHGxx

The first class of the day was Transfiguration after which Hermione informed Dumbledore of her parents' 'deaths.' He agreed that this was a good idea before sending her off to DADA. Meanwhile Riddle and his companions were already on their way to the classroom discussing the girl.

"That's all she said?" Riddle asked Cygnus.

He nodded, "That's it and she said they died of Dragon Pox."

"Weren't they a bit young to die of dragon pox?" Orion inquired of his taller cousin.

Cygnus nodded, "Her mother was already bedridden, remember that's why she came here in the first place. Don't know why her father died of it though."

"Their deaths do not matter they just give us an excuse to get close to her," Riddle explained. "We need her to join us and gain her family's backing for our cause, remember? Most American families do not publicly take a stand on the issue of mudbloods, their passive aggressive about it. But if we can get the Grims to take a stand other families will surely follow." They stopped talking when they went into the class and Orion had an idea.

"Doesn't Grim sit by herself in this class? Maybe one of us should sit by her."

Malfoy nodded his agreement, "It should be Cygnus though, if we all start crowding her it'll look odd. Plus I have a feeling she'd just get annoyed." They looked to Riddle for confirmation but he had already sat down. The other boys went to take their seats leaving Cygnus to decide what he would do. When Hermione finally came in and sat Cygnus made his decision.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" he asked politely.

"Uh no, go ahead." Hermione couldn't help but wonder what was up with him. He was much too nice to be a Death Eater and was convinced it was an act. But his concern in the forest and his smile earlier in the day seemed so genuine. And then there was his overall demeanor; quiet and almost humble, for a Slytherin that is. He was confident in his abilities but did not feel the need to prove himself to others like the rest of his house. Hermione had yet to see him insult or bully anyone in all her time here nor did he visibly look down on anyone in contempt. Maybe his parents just did a good job teaching him manners.

Professor Stayne, an average looking man with beady eyes, strode to the front of the classroom. "Today class we will be dueling. Nothing to serious we'll just be practicing defense along with some simple offensive hexes." Murmurs filled the classroom as the professor paused in his speech. "If you do not wish to participate then you do not have to though this is recommended. First though I would like to ask Ms Grim what she knows of duels."

The whole class turned to look at her as she answered. "I have been dueling for quite some time now and have been taught a fair deal of combat spells."

"You sound pretty confident, would anyone like to duel Ms Grim in front of the class?" Riddle, his followers, a jealous Rosier, and a few Gryffindors all raised their hands. "All right then how about Mr. Dolohov."

The class all filed into the dueling room and Hermione and Dolohov stepped up to platform that Hermione recognized from second year dueling club. Taking their spots the two faced each other waiting for the signal to go. Hermione couldn't wait to give him a taste of his own medicine.

"Alright class, here are the rules: no full out curses and when either myself or your opponent say stop you will stop now go."

The two bowed before Dolohov threw jelly legs hex that Hermione easily deflected and responded to with a powerful stinging hex. She hit him in the chest, forcing him to fall on the ground. Dolohov quickly jumped up and realized that he may have underestimated the girl. Soon the air was filled with various hexes and distracting jinxes. The two were evenly matched in this environment where they had to limit themselves and Dolohov began getting frustrated. He longed to use some curses on this girl that was making him look bad. As she cast an anteoculatia hex, thus giving him antlers, Dolohov decided he had had enough.

Hermione's eyes widened as she recognized the slashing movements and purple flame as the same pain curse he used on her at the Department of Mysteries. She stepped out of the way while muttering a counter-curse. She just escaped the curse before quietly sending her own, "Sectumsempra." She knew it was dangerous to cast such a powerful curse decades before its invention but she was careful. One slash at his calf before she ended it and disarmed him, "Expelliarmus."

As his wand flew into her hand Professor Stayne flew up to tend to the boy who was now bleeding profusely from his leg. "Ms Grim! What was that?"

Hermione put on her most innocent face, "It was a simple cutting hex sir."

"Just a hex eh? Well do you know how to heal this?" the man demanded as he applied pressure to Dolohov's wound.

"Of course," Hermione walked across the platform and kneeled in front of her victim. "Vulnera Sanentur." She cast the healing spell twice to stop the blood flow and knit the flesh. "You should use some dittany to prevent scarring."

The professor was fuming, "Young lady what made you think you could cast a curse? And don't tell me it was just a simple hex."

"Sir he cast a curse at me, I was simply defending myself. I've been hit with that curse before; it is very powerful and painful." Hermione handed Dolohov his wand back as he limped away towards his friends.

"Ms Grim why would someone cast such a curse at you?"

"I got… mixed up in a confrontation back home, long story. I'm sorry I broke the rules, natural reaction," she said smoothly. _'He'd better not ask for details.' _

"It better not happen again, thirty points from Slytherin. Each." All the Slytherins groaned as Hermione stepped off the platform and leaned against a wall to watch the next match.

Orion leaned in towards Malfoy, "Good thing she didn't follow through last night, you would have been toast."

The blonde prefect scoffed, "I'll admit that cutting curse would have thrown me off but I wouldn't have let it get that far."

"Please, her threats alone had you terrified." Their little dispute was interrupted by Dolohov.

"There is no way she could have seen that curse before, I invented it myself."

xxCBHGxx

Hermione had a free period after DADA while the others went to Divination. She spent her time in the library and was currently looking for a book on a certain potion she would have to brew the next day. Hermione knew exactly where the book was in her time but it wasn't there. With a sigh she turned around to look at another shelf and found Cygnus behind her.

"Hello there," he said smirking at the surprised look on her face.

"Hello Cygnus, am I in your way?" she asked lifting her head to make up for the height difference. She was about 5'3 and he was at least 6'2.

"No the book doesn't seem to be there," he answered while taking another look at the shelf. He looked back down at her, "So where did you learn to fight like that?" He was genuinely impressed, Dolohov was not an easy opponent.

"Oh just practice, my father gave me a lot of combat training."

"He must have been very good."

"He was indeed," Hermione lied.

"How come you're not taking Divination?" he asked suspiciously.

"The class is useless but I'd rather not get into that conversation."

'_A seer who believes Divination is useless, interesting.' _Cygnus casually leaned against the book shelf, "So Hogsmead weekend tomorrow, are you going with anyone?"

Hermione blushed, _'Is he asking me on a date?'_ "No I usually don't go but I was thinking of visiting the book store tomorrow."

"Well the guys and I are going to the Three Broomsticks for lunch and I was wondering if you would mind joining us?"

A lunch with Death Eaters wasn't what Hermione would _like_ to do but she needed to get close to Riddle and his cronies somehow. "Alright, I'll see you then."

xxCBHGxx

The next day Hermione woke up a little later than usual before getting ready for Hogsmead. It was cold outside so she put on a deep blue winter dress. It came with a matching headband that she placed in her loose hair which she had left in its natural curls. She applied very little, natural looking make-up before throwing on her cloak and heading out the door.

Looking at the time she decided to go to the book store after lunch with the Death Eaters.When she entered the establishment she found the group spread out around the dining area. At a small two person table Orion was talking to an older girl who looked like Cygnus. Riddle, Malfoy, and Dolohov were at a large booth table in the far corner with three other young men who looked vaguely familiar. And Cygnus was at a smaller booth waving her over.

"Good morning Hermione, I know I said it would be all of us but I guess not."

"Oh that's alright though I do have to askwho's that girl Orion is talking to? She looks like you."

"My sister Walburga," as he said the name Hermione remembered the screaming portrait, "she graduated three years ago. They've been flirting a lot, our parents talking about marriage."

Hermione was sure the surprise and disgust showed on her face, "But I thought he was your cousin?"

"Second cousin, American pureblood families probably aren't as closely related as British ones because it is a newer country. After a few centuries cousins getting married won't be that big a deal."

Hermione knew that purebloods inbreed and she knew before hand that Sirius' parents were related but it still did not sit well with her. "Are you going to marry one of your cousins too?"

"No, I'm not interested in any of them." Hermione felt a little relieved when he said this though she wasn't sure why. She already knew he was destined for Druella Rosier.

"Any other siblings?"

"Alphard, he graduated two years ago. I'm the baby of the family." Cygnus rolled his eyes at the title.

"I've always wondered what it would be like to have siblings, I'm an only child and so were my parents. So no close cousins either."

He shook his head, "Count your blessings, siblings are nothing but a pain in the butt." Hermione laughed and as the meal went on she was surprised at how much she did laugh. She quickly realized that she liked spending time with Cygnus and vice versa. A muggleborn and a Death Eater, who would have thought such a friendship could happen?

A couple hours later they were still just sitting there talking. Hermione had not forgotten about Riddle and his new friends though and curiosity soon prevailed. "So who is Riddle talking to?"

"Ishmael LeStrange, Tarrant Nott, and Beauregard Rosier."

"Druella's brother?"

"Yes." Cygnus visibly paused as he pondered something. _'Riddle did want me to take her to Slug Club and now it doesn't seem like such a bad idea.'_ "Hermione would you accompany me to a dinner in a few weeks?"

xxCBHGxx

**AN: This story may be more than three chapters but I'm not complaining since I am enjoying writing this but most importantly please please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry it took longer than usual to update, I haven't had as much access to my laptop as I normally do. Prepare for a bit of fluff and then a little surprise**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter or Till the End of Time by Perry Como**

Hermione did _not_ want to go to a Slug Club dinner. She'd rather do pretty much anything except divination, but this was too good an opportunity to pass up. That was the only reason she was going, for her mission. The same reason she now spent so much of her free time with her new Slytherin friend. Most of it was spent in the library or during meals but the time was still enjoyed. Hermione was very careful with any questions pertaining to her family or past while Cygnus skillfully avoided discussing his um extracurricular activities. But surprisingly these questions did not come up as often as they were supposed to. This worried Hermione greatly since the whole reason for the time spent together was for her mission.

And maybe because she liked Cygnus, just a little…

But mostly because she could spy on Riddle and Malfoy while there of course. She had just a couple of hours before she had to meet Cygnus in the Slytherin common room and she was still deciding what she should wear. The dinner was supposed to be nicer than the usual meetings but she didn't have anything really nice, she never planned on going to a forties dinner party when she was packing. _'But maybe Professor McGonagall did.'_ Hermione walked from her trunk to her bag to see if there was a dress hidden in there. After some digging around—the bag had been charmed to be bigger inside than out—she did indeed find a dress.

It was a black dress entirely composed of tier after tier of fringe draping over a deep scoop neckline, short cap sleeves, and wrap style skirt. The waist was cinched and had the black silk crepe material showing, the entire dress was made out of this material but it was hidden under the fringe. It was an interesting style Hermione had never seen before but then she never really was one for fashion. After casting a few spells to smooth out the wrinkles she took some time to do her make-up and put her hair in the typical wavy style that was so loved by woman in the forties.

A snobby voice interrupted her departure, "Where are you going?" Hermione turned to find Druella Rosier sitting on her bed looking at the dressed up girl condescendingly.

Hermione ignored her tone and turned back to the door, "I'm going to Slughorn's party. Is that okay with you?"

"You're not in Slug Club and I doubt anyone asked you, so where are you going?"

'_How dare she assume I can't get a date?' _"Well for your information someone did ask me."

The blonde snorted, "Who?"

Hermione knew the answer would piss the other girl off and she really didn't want to deal with a scornful roommate and her sidekicks but she would find out eventually. Plus Hermione just felt like pissing the snob off. "Cygnus Black."

Hermione only heard a shocked gasp before she closed the door behind her.

As she walked down the hall she heard the distinctive voices of Malfoy and Cygnus talking about something or other in the common room. Their conversation stopped however when Hermione entered the room. Riddle, who had been silently sitting in his seat, rose an eyebrow appreciatively while the other two boys complimented her.

Cygnus held out his arm like the gentleman he was, "We should be going," turning back to the guys, "We'll see you there." Once the pair was out of the room Riddle commented to Malfoy,

"I'm afraid Black hasn't been doing a very good job getting Grim to join us has he?"

Malfoy looked contemplative for a moment, "It's only been a month and like you said, Americans don't like taking a stand on this issue."

"Well perhaps _I_ could be more persuasive."

xxCBHGxx

Hermione admired Cygnus as they made their way to the party. He was looking exceptionally debonair tonight in gray trousers, waist coat, white dress shirt, and black tie with a silver snake tie clip. His hair was perfectly styled and dark blue eyes stood out more than usual as they were complimented by the gray outfit.

The room in which the party was being held was filled with students—both former and current—and their dates. Most of them were obviously Slytherin with Ravenclaw being the second most popular house but there were also the occasional Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

Soon Malfoy and his date walked in along with Riddle only a few minutes before the dinner began. When everyone sat down Hermione was loathe to find Riddle sitting on her right. She tried to scoot over away from him and closer to her date when Slughorn began to speak. The man bored her here even more than in the classroom and she was drifting off into daydreams when she heard her name.

"Miss Grim how nice of you to join us, I've been wanting to invite you for some time now. I hope you like our little club enough to accept my invitation."

Every eye was on her as she stumbled through her answer, "Um thank you but I'll have to think about it. I-if you don't mind." She did not want to be forced to attend another of his meetings and apparently she was not the first to try and get out of an invitation. Amongst some of the looks of shock were quite a few knowing looks of condolence from former members.

The meal was delicious just like all the food at Hogwarts and Slughorn cast a spell for some dancing music to play. If anyone though it was awkward for such a small number of people to dance no one said anything. Couples went out to the dance floor and began moving to the music. Hermione recognized a few songs by Frank Sinatra, the Andrew Sisters, and Ella Fitzgerald. Cygnus was standing by a window with Hermione, debating whether or not he should ask her to dance when Riddle strode over to their spot.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything. Miss Grim may I have this dance?"

"Well actually…" Hermione did not get to finish her declination of his offer as he had already grabbed her by the hand and was dragging her to the dance floor. A fuming Cygnus was left to watch them as they danced to a slower song that thankfully was not _too_ slow. He did not want Riddle getting any closer to Hermione than he already was.

Meanwhile Hermione narrowed her eyes at Riddle as he began speaking to her. "Hermione," her eyes became even smaller slits when he used her first name, "I must say you look rather beautiful tonight."

"Thank you," she said in a tight voice, "Riddle I must ask-"

"Call me Tom," he said with a dashing smile.

"_Riddle_, do you have a habit of asking questions without expecting an answer? I was going to decline your offer."

Riddle's expression darkened, "And why would you do that?"

"Because I want to dance with Cygnus."

Her partner shook his head, "I don't understand why, I am a superior dancer as you'll soon find out if you insist on dancing with him." He began to show off his skills when Hermione tore herself from him.

"I do insist on dancing with him, now if you'll excuse me." She stomped off to where Cygnus was watching and gave him a smile.

Cygnus smiled back and took her out to where she was dancing with Riddle and held her close as Perry Como's _Till the End of Time_ began to play. It was a slow, relaxing song with romantic lyrics and Hermione loved it. Cygnus didn't try to impress her like Riddle did. Instead they slowly swayed and lazily turned to the song's smooth melody. Hermione looked up at him to find him staring at her. She blushed and rested her head on his shoulder.

xxCBHGxx

The pair left after their dance when Slughorn came to speak to Hermione. They said their good byes and thanks to the teacher before escaping him and his unwanted chat.

They walked arm in arm down a quiet hall way. Cygnus noticed the time and said, "As glad as I am to have escaped Slughorn it is rather early. It's a shame we didn't dance more."

Hermione blushed and smiled, "It is." She had an idea and began to pull Cygnus away from the dungeons and up to the stairs, "Come on, we have awhile before anyone expects us." Cygnus looked at her curiously but followed her lead wondering at where she was taking him.

Cygnus found himself at the Astronomy tower and felt Hermione shiver in the cold November air. He smirked, "You forgot about that little detail didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did." Cygnus then cast some warming spells and took her over to the ledge where they could see the stars. He leaned against a pillar and wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist, her back against his torso and head on his chest. After a few serene, silent moments Hermione asked in a quiet voice, "Aren't you named after a constellation?"

"Yes, the swan." His eyes began searching the night sky before finding the familiar pattern. He raised his hand and traced it with his finger, "It's right there, see it?"

"Yes." They spent next few moments pointing at the constellations they could find. Their voices were quiet, almost whispers. Hermione had never felt so comfortable with a boy before outside of a completely plutonic relationship like she had with Harry and Ron. Thinking of them brought a couple tears to her eyes which Cygnus heard in her voice.

"What's wrong?" He spun her small in his arms so that her face was now buried in his chest.

"It's nothing."

He took her chin in his hand and lifted it so that she was facing him, "Now tell me the truth."

She did, "I'm thinking of home." He gathered her closer still and rubbed her back as tears continued to escape her eyes.

"I'm sorry about your parents but you'll be back home with your friends and family soon enough," Cygnus said sadly.

"No I won't," she slipped.

"Why not?" At his question Hermione realized what she said and began thinking quickly.

"I don't have anywhere to stay; we were never close with any of our extended family. No really close friends. I'm eighteen and I'll be expected to take care of myself. I think it will be easier to just start over here." Cygnus couldn't help the smile at the thought of Hermione staying in Britain.

"Everything will be alright," he whispered. Hermione looked straight into his eyes and leaned in close to her surprisingly sweet Death Eater. By the time she realized she had thought of him as her own their lips had touched and they shared their first kiss.

xxCBHGxx

Cygnus walked into his room much later than he originally planned even when he planned on staying till the end of the party. Everyone was asleep when he walked in. _'Perfect.'_ Except for Riddle. _'Perfect'_ he repeated in his mind but with more sarcasm.

"You're doing a very poor job at recruiting, Black."

Cygnus remembered why he was _supposed_ to be with Hermione and tried to find an out. "She's not really interested in our cause." It was true; she never said anything against mudbloods or muggles. "And she's not close to her family; in fact she plans on staying here as opposed to going home."

"Well, convince her to join our side and have her go bond with her family. You are obviously incompetent; I will take over the job." Cygnus bristled as he changed his clothes. He did not like the thought of Riddle doing anything with Hermione nor of Hermione joining the cause. There were plenty of pureblood snobby princesses already; Hermione should stay as she was. No need for another pureblood snobby princess.

"I really hope," Riddle broke Cygnus from his thoughts, "that you were doing something productive after the dance."

A goofy grin claimed Cygnus' face thinking of his little snogging session with Hermione, "Of course I did. Good night Riddle." Cygnus jumped into his bed and closed the curtains, charmed to keep out sound, before Riddle could question him.

xxCBHGxx

Christmas came quickly to Hogwarts and the only people staying in Slytherin house were Hermione, Riddle, and his followers which to Hermione's delight and sorrow included Cygnus. Christmas shopping was a little depressing since she only ended up buying four real gifts: a novel for Eileen, a box of lemon drops for Dumbledore, a book on dragons for Hagrid, and silver snake cuff links she saw Cygnus eyeing the last time they were in Hogsmeade. She also bought a couple of small gifts for her 'companions' but nothing too special.

Things with Cygnus were great and Hermione was surprised he could be a Death Eater. She sometimes wondered if it were all an act or if Riddle forced his minions to join him. Which reminded her of two bad things that had happened since the party: Rosier was bitchier than usual and Riddle's attentions.

Rosier would insult Hermione whenever possible and remind her that soon 'Cygnus will come to his senses.' Riddle on the other hand was trying to recruit Hermione. Hermione was surprised Riddle thought her worthy of his little group and she saw the advantages of it. This gave her the perfect opportunity for her mission but she refused to do anything that may end up giving her a Dark Mark. To make things even more uncomfortable Riddle was very obviously flirting with her. No matter how many times she refused him he would not listen.

She changed into some warm comfy clothes—yearning for the days when she could wear pants—and walked to the common room where the Christmas tree waited. Cygnus, Slughorn (who continued to pester about Slug Club), Riddle, Malfoy, and the rest were already down there.

"Miss Grim," Slughorn greeted cheerfully, "we already started, hope you don't mind, Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas sir." Hermione sat down next Cygnus in a secluded corner where there was a small pile of presents for her. He had already opened his and was admiring his cuff links. As she sat he embraced her he thanked her and said they were perfect.

Most of her gifts were chocolates and other sweets she guessed based on the packaging. Two presents stood out: a rectangle the shape of a book wrapped in green and a much smaller rectangle wrapped in green. Cygnus picked up the green one and placed it on her lap. The tag said _with love Cygnus_ and Hermione began to peel away the paper. It was a white jewelry box and inside was a gorgeous necklace. On a silver chain dangled a pear shaped royal blue sapphire—her birthstone—pendent surrounded by marquise cut diamonds that looked like leaves hanging from the larger gemstone. Hermione gasped at the sight of it "Cygnus this is beautiful."

He kissed her on the cheek, "Specially made for you." He then took the necklace from the box and put it on her. Cygnus pulled her up into his lap and they enjoyed each other's company, completely ignoring the rest of the room until Riddle came up.

"Are you going to open your present?" he asked gesturing to the larger green one. Hermione obliged and opened up the present to find a book on the dark arts.

Hermione smirked _'Of course he'd get that.'_ "Thank you, Riddle, Merry Christmas."

There was a large knocking on the door which opened to reveal a nervous looking Hagrid holding a large solid black cat. "Ello just ere to deliver a present. Merry Christmas Ermione, oh and his name's Ivan." He placed the cat on the ground and left. Ivan lazily ambled to Hermione and plopped into her lap. He was extremely relaxed and looked ready to take a nap at any second.

Hermione smiled and pet the cat that the boys were all eyeing warily before they had to get ready for Christmas brunch.

xxCBHGxx

By the time all the other students returned Hermione had realized that Ivan was lazy all the time. It was like the cat was on drugs or something but something about his demeanor was endearing. His relaxed attitude seemed to flow to Hermione who felt calm in his presence. Unfortunately his amble was never fast enough to keep up with Hermione so she had to carry the large cat throughout the castle.

She was climbing a set of stairs, Ivan in her arms, when she heard Rosier's voice. "So did Cygnus finally dump you?"

Hermione turned to look at the blonde, "No he has not nor will he anytime soon." But Rosier did not listen to her reply, she was too busy starring at Hermione's necklace.

"Where did _you_ get _that_?"

Hermione smiled proudly, "Christmas present from Cygnus." Rosier fumed and tried to push past Hermione to the landing directly behind her. Unfortunately the stairs decided to move right then causing both girls to lose balance. Rosier jumped onto the landing but Hermione could not regain her balance. She dropped Ivan as she fell down the gap, landing on another set of stairs and hitting her head, hard.

xxCBHGxx

Cygnus paced back and forth by Hermione's bed. She laid there sleeping with bandages on her eyes, blocking out the light. A worried Ivan laid by her head. Cygnus' arms were crossed against his chest, his hands balled as he thought of some suitable punishment for Rosier.

The nurse said there was some damage to her brain, she landed in just the wrong way. Magic fixed most of it but her eyes were still slightly damaged and when she woke she would not remember the last few days or possibly months but the amnesia should pass quickly. No one else was in the room now and Cygnus was dutifully waiting for her to wake.

The sleeping girl started to make noises in her sleep and began thrashing. Cygnus was at her side at once and tried to wake her from her nightmare. But she would not rouse and soon started screaming.

"Harry, Ron run! Vol-Voldemort! He's coming!" Cygnus froze when she pronounced the name of the young Dark Lord. How did she know it? Riddle hadn't told her yet nor did anyone else.

He finally coaxed her awake and she began clawing at the thick white bandages on her eyes asking where she was. "You're in the infirmary." Cygnus answered and he proceeded to ask the questions the nurse told him to ask to check her memory, starting with easy ones she should get right. "What is your name?"

"Hermione Granger." Cygnus blanched. She couldn't remember but why? Why did she say Granger? A completely random name, wasn't it? And she was only supposed to forget a few months, she should know this.

"N-no, that's the wrong last name. Do you remember your birthday?"

"September nineteenth," Cygnus felt hopeful, "1979."

xxCBHGxx

**AN: If you want pictures of party dress and necklace go to cmadeleines dot com and look up Pattulo-Jo Copeland fringe flapper dress and for the necklace go to gabriellasjewels dot com and look at royal sapphire pendent. I hope to have the next update up soon**

**Also Ivan is a real cat I saw at petsco, very large and very chill. The workers joked that he was half dog and he looked like he was on vicaden no joke. I'm more of dog person myself but I wanted Ivan.**

**And yes I realize the long hiatus, short chapter, and cliffy make me evil :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you arabellagrace, Milly, trappedinherimagination, assi, and Smithback for the reviews. This one's shorter than I thought it would be but filled with some rather important stuff so that should make up for it.**

**AN: Is JK Rowling a high school senior in Texas? No? Then I don't own HP**

'_Was the fall really that hard?'_ Cygnus paced the infirmary pondering Hermione's answers. Hermione sounded so sure as she answered the questions and Cygnus, needless to say, was worried and confused. _'Maybe the last name was a friend's or relative's and she's just getting things mixed up but that doesn't explain her birthday. Why on Earth would she say 1979? That's over thirty years into the future!'_

Meanwhile, Hermione was sitting up on the cot wondering where the massive headache came from. She was also wondering who the voice was that had asked her questions. He sounded familiar but she just couldn't grasp the memory. And that wasn't the only memory she couldn't reach, there was something important she couldn't remember. A lot of somethings actually. Suddenly she felt a warm, furry thing rubbing against her leg. A meow told her it was a cat but why would there be a cat on her cot?

"Crookshanks?" Cygnus looked over and saw his girlfriend petting Ivan with a confused look on her face. "No, not Crookshanks. Not fluffy enough and you definitely have a better attitude than him."

'_I guess she had a cat back in America.'_ "His name is Ivan, your cat. Hagrid gave him to you for Christmas."

Hermione's face lit up in recognition, "Hagrid did? That's odd, I don't remember Christmas and he knows Crookshanks doesn't like other cats."

"You remember Hagrid?"

"Of course I've known him for years. Who are you by the way?"

The now thoroughly confused boyfriend took a moment to assess the situation. His girlfriend couldn't remember her name, birthday, cat, or himself but she remembered the half giant. She had told Hagrid she already knew him through visions but Cygnus knew that was a lie. There was something deeper going on but he had no idea what. A random little thought popped into his head. Maybe she… no, impossible time turners didn't go that far back.

"Hermione, it's me Cygnus. Your boyfriend, don't you remember me?" He had never seen such an odd expression on her face before. Hermione was as confused and freaked out as she looked.

'_A boyfriend? Named Cygnus? I'm on the run from Voldemort and I don't even know a Cygnus… wait no that's not true. Cygnus…Cygnus Black, he's the only one I can think of but he's ferret's grandfather. Except I remember something else about the name…'_

Hermione turned to face the source of the voice. "What is the date? The exact date."

"January fourth, 1946. You've been in here for about a day now, the nurse gave you some dreamless sleep potion. You had a fight with Druella Rosier on the moving stairs and fell." Cygnus sounded desperate and he was, he was desperate to make her remember and explain. To be alright and be her normal self again.

Hermione stiffened and fought frantically to retrieve her missing memories. She could vaguely remember going to McGonagal, that Druella is a bitch, Cygnus is kind, and Riddle is frustrating. Wait, since when did she refer to Voldemort as Riddle? And shouldn't the correct term be terrifyingly mental?

"I think I need to go back to sleep." _'And wake up from this nightmare.'_

"Of course, I'll go tell the nurse you woke up though." Cygnus got up and jogged out to the hall and ordered a young Hufflepuff to find the nurse.

xxCBHGxx

The nurse was Madame Zaina, she was an elderly woman with gray hair and light brown eyes. Everyone knew her as a kind old woman but very strict and to the point. And while she would have conversations with her patients she never started one herself preferring to move on to the next case.

She cast a diagnostic spell on Hermione and saw that aside from her eyes and temporary memory loss she was fine. Her bones had been perfectly mended, her blood replenished, and cuts sealed shut. Cygnus requested that a second, more specific spell be cast to see what exactly was wrong with her memory.

"It says that she can't recollect anything too recent but she remembers the bigger things like personal information and lifelong relationships. Her recent memories will return in a few hours and I have potion to help her along," the elderly woman explained.

Cygnus shook his head, "Madame Zaina, I have already told you she has forgotten more than just that. She couldn't even remember her own name or her birthday."

"Mr. Black the spell indicates she remembers these things the only reason she would tell you anything but the truth is if she is lying. I don't know why she would lie about such things but that is the only explanation. Just be thankful she isn't as bad as she could be, it was a rather nasty fall." The nurse checked a few more things, removed the bandages from Hermione's eyes and dimmed the lights before being called away to some sick student roaming the halls. Cygnus and Hermione would not have much time left alone and he needed to get some answers.

He gently shook Hermione awake before her newly freed eyelids fluttered open. She looked at him curiously as he tried to give an encouraging smile. _'Where am I? Oh yeah Hogwarts infirmary of the forties . Wow that must be Cygnus, I remembering thinking he was good looking. I was right, he is handsome. Not now girl, focus on not slipping up.'_

"Hermione? Hermione are you awake?" he asked in a gentle voice.

"Yes," she mumbled as she reached a sore arm up to block out the dim light that still seemed too bright for her eyes.

"Hermione I need to ask you some things, do you know what your last name is?" he asked hopefully.

Hermione panicked but tried not to let it show as she searched through her brain. _'Grime, Grimes, Grims, Grim… that's it.' _"Grim." She tried to sound confident but it still sounded almost like a question.

Cygnus nodded but was not satisfied with the answer; it was unsure and took her far too long to answer based on the diagnostic spell. "Yes now when were you born?"

"September nineteenth," _'Let's see I'm seventeen it's the beginning of 1946 which means…'_ "1928." Again Cygnus and again he felt the answer took too long but now he had to focus on a more disturbing question.

"How do you know about," he took a deep breath and whispered, "Voldemort?"

Once again frozen Hermione did the first thing that came to mind, play dumb. "Who?"

Cygnus looked her straight in the eyes, "You know who, you said his name earlier now who told you?"

She cocked her head to the side, "When did I say that?"

"You were having a nightmare and started screaming to some people to run away." He placed his hands on her shoulders and leaned in a little closer. "Hermione you need to tell me how you know that name."

"I-I don't know, maybe I overheard it somewhere?" she suggested now panicking.

Cygnus' face hardened ever so slightly. "Nobody says his name especially out in public, now tell me the truth Hermione. And why are you having nightmares about him? Nothing has happened to you to cause that."

Hermione shied away from him and looked away from his eyes. She needed to come up with something quickly. But she was drawing a blank, there was no logical reason she would know Riddle's as of now secret name.

"And what about the other lies? You birthday and name? I had the nurse check, you weren't disoriented enough to genuinely get those wrong, you are lying and I want to know why. Are you even American?"

Hermione was shocked, though she really shouldn't be, by how straightforward he was about this. She tried to act offended in hopes of making him feel guilty enough to back down. "I can't believe you don't trust me, after I fell and hit my head of course I'm going to be disoriented."

"Not enough to spout out random answers. I'm not playing around Hermione," he almost growled in frustration and tightened his grip ever so slightly; "I need to know these answers, especially the first. I won't tell anyone but you have to tell me."

"Look Cygnus… I can't." Hermione was giving up but she was not giving in. She knew she couldn't talk her way out of it but he could not get the answers he wanted. The whole time they were talking more and more of her memories were returning and Hermione became more determined not to let anything else slip.

"Why not?"

"I lied for a reason, Cygnus. My secrets need to stay that way."

"Don't you trust me?" he pleaded.

"I can't trust anyone. There are things I can't tell anyone, not even Dumbledore."

Cygnus closed the curtain when Madame Zaina walked in. She was alone and went straight to her office allowing for more interrogation time.

"Well I can guess that it has something to do with Voldemort, what do you know about him? He's dangerous and you shouldn't involve yourself with him." Cygnus briefly remembered that their acquaintance started with plans to recruit but how things have changed. Now he could not bear the thought of Hermione joining Riddle's followers.

"I'm not getting involved with them," she snapped giving him a pointed look.

Cygnus obviously picked up on that, "Good, I try my best to distance myself from him as well."

Hermione almost sorted when she remembered something Sirius had said. Regulus and Bellatrix were the only Blacks to become Death Eaters. Cygnus never became one. He may follow Riddle's lead now but after school he breaks away. The joy and relief that flowed through Hermione was indescribable, her boyfriend would not become a Death Eater.

Cygnus saw her emotions dance across her face and wondered what exactly brought it about. "Hermione you need to explain, if you're in trouble I'll help you please just tell me what's going on."

Maybe it was the happiness or the potions in her system or the look in his eyes begging her to trust him, whatever it was Hermione decided to let him in just a little.

"I used a time turner to get here over fifty years in the past. Like I said I can't tell you much except I'm trapped here. I was born in England and my accent's obviously fake. In the future I learned a lot more about Voldemort than I would like. I can't tell you anymore."

Cygnus took this all in surprisingly well or maybe he was just listening, waiting until he was alone before he absorbed it. A look of contemplation and then realization appeared upon his face. "You are here to stop Riddle."

"I guess that's pretty obvious isn't it?" she conceded. "I'm doing a grand job at the moment," she said sarcastically.

"I could help if you let me know exactly what he does."

Hermione looked at him shocked, a pure blooded Slytherin wanting to help take down the Dark Lord? Had Hermione really changed that much in this timeline.

"I don't think I can tell you, you really don't want to know anyway." Cygnus looked as if he were going to protest when someone came into the infirmary.

"Hermione? Are you okay?" Eileen Prince hurried over to the older girl's bed. "Oh and Black your cousin is waiting for you in the common room."

Cygnus took this as his cue to leave and leaned down to kiss her forehead, "I'll be back soon." As he walked out he hoped that his conversation with Orion would end quickly so that he could find a quiet out of the way place where he could fully absorb the new information and properly freak out.

xxCBHGxx

Eileen was not Hermione's only visitor. Dumbledore, Slughorn, Hagrid, and even Malfoy came. The first wanted to check on her and see how she was adjusting to her new time line, Slughorn was worried but ultimately renewed his invitation to Slug club, Hagrid brought flowers, and Malfoy came by with civil conversation and condolences. Later Orion came by with a smile with some flowers that were put in a vase with Hagrid's, and informed her of his engagement to Walburga, before her most surprising visitor came. Riddle.

Hermione assumed that Riddle would come just to keep up his appearance as the perfect Head Boy but his stay was not exactly as she expected.

"Good evening Hermione how are you feeling? It is a shame that such a horrible accident could befall you," he said in his most charming voice.

"Yes very unfortunate," she said as civilly as she could. She always had a short fuse around Riddle and was glad that she hadn't blown up around him yet but she had to be even more careful now that she was injured.

Riddle began to scoot a little closer to Hermione causing Ivan to hiss loudly. The two teens glanced at the normally mellow feline before Riddle turned back to the bedridden girl. "So where is dear Cygnus? Surely he should be here with you." Riddle knew very well that Cygnus did not leave her side after he first found her in the infirmary but he wanted to get a rise out of Hermione.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at the bane of her existence, "He was here when I woke up and long after that but he had some other matters to attend to, he cannot and does not need to stay by my side twenty-four seven."

"Of course not," Riddle said as he tried to take Hermione's hand into his in a comforting gesture. Tried being the operative word since Ivan pounced on his hand hissing. Hermione quickly pulled the cat into her arms before Riddle could swat him away. Ivan stopped hissing and settled for glaring at the boy next to the cot. "Rather protective isn't he?" Riddle sneered.

Hermione stroked Ivan, mentally thanking him, before responding to her least favorite male. "He is, you know cats are supposed to be very good judges of character I wonder why he does not trust the perfect Head Boy?" she did not even bother to hide the sarcasm in her voice.

Riddle smirked, "Your guess is as good as mine." He pulled out his wand and transfigured his uncomfortable infirmary chair into a cushioned chair as he got settled in for what promised to be a long, and in Hermione's opinion, unwanted conversation.

'_He always did like to hear himself talk.'_

"So are you going to return to America directly after graduation or are you going enjoy Europe for a few more weeks?" he asked as if he were truly interested in her life. He leaned in to get a good look at her face with his chin held in his hand, his elbow propped up on her cot.

Hermione scooted away from his arm, "I'm not planning on going back to America anytime soon."

"But what about your family? Surely they want you to come back home."

She looked away sadly, not having to act when she thought of her family, "I don't have any left."

"As devastating as it is to lose your parents the Grim family is very large some aunt or cousin will miss you."

"No, we're not a very close knit family." Hermione was getting frustrated, how dare he ask such questions? As if he actually cares.

"Well now is the time to fix that, you can't go out into the world without your family."

'_I wish he'd leave already, as if I need family advice from the man that killed father and grandparents only to pin it on his uncle.'_

"Why are you so interested in my relationship with my family, Riddle?" she asked letting the suspicion shine through.

"Can't I worry about a friend? You know I've heard many things about your family, I'm sure you are not surprised considering their influence in the western wizarding world, I'm surprised none of them have come to collect you yet."

"And why would they have done that?"

Riddle smirked, "You must not be close to them at all, in fact I'm beginning to wonder if it's even the same family. From what I heard the Grims are indeed close, always making sure to help one another better themselves in society. I'm sure your uncles already have a long list of men waiting to court you."

Hermione snorted. "Whisking me away to some unwanted arranged marriage to the son of politician is hardly what I'd call caring. No my family merely wants to keep their influence by keeping as many family members as possible in prominent positions in society. Yet another reason to stay in England, less pressure from my family name," she retorted, coming up with that last bit off the top of her head.

Riddle smirked again but not as amused, this time it seemed darker. "Try as you might but you'll never escape your family name."

'_Oh this is just a perfect example of irony right here.'_

"Well thank you for the advice Riddle," she said in a falsely saccharine voice, "but if you don't mind I should really go back to sleep."

"Are you sure? I have a few more questions."

"What could possibly be so important?" Hermione asked irritated.

Riddle shrugged, "I was just wondering why everyone in your family shies away from anything dealing with blood status, is it an American thing? I'd hate to think the great Grims were blood traitors."

It took every ounce of will power not to noticeably grit her teeth, to not tear up the bed sheets with her now clenched hands, to not show Riddle a good old fashioned muggle butt kicking. It took every ounce to restrict herself to growling at him, "Why don't you figure it out, you are smart enough aren't you?"

Hermione flipped over so that her back was to him (setting off every danger alarm in her head) and covered her face with the blankets to show Riddle she was done talking.

"Just one more," he said amused, "The Valentine 's Day dance will be coming up soon, will you do me the honor-"

Hermione cut him off, "I'm going with Cygnus, he _is_ my boyfriend."

"You could break up," he tried to say persuasively.

"No thanks." _'How dare he ask me to break up with Cygnus for _him?_ The mere thought of having a relationship with snake-face is terrifying, what does he want with me anyway? He flirted at Slughorn's party too.'_

'_How dare she tell _me_ no, and for Cygnus Black too.'_ "If that's what you want, please keep the offer in mind though."

A new, much more welcome voice hit Hermione's ear next. "And what offer would that be Riddle?" Hermione got out from under the sheets to see Cygnus walking towards her, his dark blue eyes trained on Riddle.

"Nothing that concerns you, Black," Riddle responded causing Hermione to scoff. Both boys looked at her with interest before going back to their passive aggressive glares at one another. "She said she wanted to go to sleep, we should leave."

"Oh no, Cygnus you can stay, please." Cygnus looked pleased as he strode to her side in front of Riddle taking one of her hands into his. Riddle on the other hand looked offended. He roughly grabbed Cygnus' arm and said something in his ear. Hermione could only hear hissing but Cygnus heard loud and clear.

"Do not interfere with my plans, Black."

Riddle put on another fake charming smile for Hermione before leaving the room. Both of the remaining occupants let out a sigh of relief as he left. Cygnus took the chair Riddle had transfigured and sat with Ivan quickly leaping into his lap to settle down for a nap.

"So Hermione I've been thinking about the whole being from the future thing."

xxCBHGxx

**AN: Zaina is a shortened version of erizaina, the basque word for nurse. Also guys this story is halfway through, only seven chapters max including the epilogue, I was thinking of what to do after this other than finishing my other story (which I will do) I've been wanting to do a Dramione, Tomione, SSHG, maybe even a Drapple parody. Nothing too big, maybe the same length as this maybe shorter. If any of ya'll have suggestions, requests, or maybe even a prompt just let me know and maybe I'll do it.**

**But first review about this story.**

**Fun fact: the Knights of Walpurgis weren't founded until after Riddle left school according to the HPwikia page on Death Eaters, I always thought they started during the last few years.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you ItsOnMars for the wonderful review. **

**I would like to tell everyone of this awesome story I'm reading it's called Secretly, Yours by Brutality. Whenever I read something like this I feel like telling people, basically it is a Tomione about what would have happened had Hermione met Tom during their first years due to the RoR, it will go through all seven books and has just finished book 1 so check it out.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter if I did Snape would get a happy ending, Hermione would have ended up with anyone but Ron most likely Draco, and it's not that I have anything against Ron but if I give Snape a happy ending I have to kill someone off to balance it out and prevent typical fairy tale ending so yeah the ginger would have been sacrificed. Sorry Ron fans but that's how it would have worked.**

'_The future, nineteen seventy nine, holy shit my girlfriend is from the future! She's like fifty years younger than me! Is that illegal? No, I guess it wouldn't be considering the circumstances… Now's not the time Cygnus. Fifty years into the future… shit.'_

When Cygnus finally found Orion after leaving Hermione and Eileen he became very annoyed that all his cousin wanted to discuss was his engagement to Walburga. As Orion rambled about the wedding date and the benefits of the marriage Cygnus desperately tried to pay attention, if only to keep his mind wondering to his girlfriend and her life changing confession. After ending his conversation with Orion sooner than the later would have liked Cygnus escaped the Slytherin common room and found an old abandoned classroom. This room was known as a good place for snogging and such so all he had to do was lock the door and no one would bother him. As soon as the locking spell was in place the tall, raven haired teen began to pace.

Cygnus Black like all Slytherins knew how to keep their emotions in check when needed and he was very careful to not let any of the people he saw know just how freaked out he was. One could hardly blame him for his frantic thoughts, it's not every day someone meets a time traveler. He knew something was up since the beginning, Hermione Grim had always been mysterious. But to learn that Hermione Grim was nothing more than a character, a mask for Hermione Granger of the nineties to spy on Riddle it was enough to throw anyone for a loop.

'_Not even the great Riddle could see it coming,' _Cygnus thought smugly, glad that the young Dark Lord could indeed be fooled and played just like anyone else. By a Gryffindor no less as it was obvious that Hermione was originally a part of his rival house. The trip back into the past was proof enough of her stupid bravery. These thoughts started a chain that lead to a scary conclusion: if Riddle found out Hermione was dead.

There was no doubt in his mind what Riddle would do if he felt threatened. Based on Hermione's nightmare it was a fact that she was indeed here to harm Riddle in one way or another. Cygnus winced as he thought of how Riddle would use dark curses, even crucio people. He thankfully had yet to do anything to earn such punishment but he knew of the pain the curses caused. What Cygnus needed to do was keep Riddle away from Hermione until some sort of plan was formed. Unfortunately Riddle still thought Hermione was a Grim and was trying to recruit her. As someone who had gone through the process before, Cygnus knew that would entail Riddle trying to spend as much with her as possible until she had no choice to join. The dance at Slughorn's party was only the beginning.

Cygnus looked at his watch and realized he had been gone longer than he thought and rushed out of the room. His pace was hurried as he headed to the infirmary, the trip wouldn't take too much time with his long stride but still he felt as if he was late even if he did not say when he would return. Halfway there Cygnus once again ran into his cousin.

"Hey Cyg, where are you headed?" the brunette called.

"To the infirmary."

"I was just there," Orion informed as he got closer to his cousin, "Hermione seems fine, Riddle's visiting her right now."

Cygnus' eyes went wide and he quickened his step. When he passed Orion the later turned and began walking with the former.

"What is he talking to her about?"

"Same thing everyone has, the generic 'how are you doing' and 'do you need anything.' I'm sure he'll mention _something_ about joining him of course." Cygnus stiffened and Orion misread his cousin's actions. "Look, don't worry about Riddle flirting with her, I'm sure he will but she won't respond. She's crazy about you, you know." Cygnus didn't respond, too concerned about Hermione having another slip of the tongue to listen to his cousin. Orion decided to continue though, "When I was talking to her about Walburga I suggested the two of you getting married. She said you guys were too young but she looked happy at the thought. Now all you need to do is find out which uncle is to marry her off and viola you have a wife!" Orion slapped Cygnus on the back in a premature congratulation.

The thought of marriage went through Cygnus' mind and it was no longer an unpleasant like it was a few months ago when he was destined for the vile Druella. "Thanks but I think we should talk about this later, I'll be back in the dorms later," Cygnus said, dismissing his cousin.

When Cygnus put his hand on the infirmary door he heard Riddle's voice. "If that's what you want, please keep the offer in mind though."

Again the thought of Hermione becoming one of Riddle's followers upset Cygnus, but it was Riddle's tone that irked him the most. The Head Boy was using his flirty persuasive voice that he's used on just about every girl in Hogwarts age fifteen and up.

Cygnus opened the door to find Hermione hiding under the sheets holding a glaring Ivan as she attempted to keep some distance between herself and her unwelcome visitor that was currently leaning on her cot. "And what offer would that be Riddle?"

Cygnus walked towards the cot, glaring at Riddle. "Nothing that concerns you, Black," the young wizard snapped, earning a scoff from the injured girl. Cygnus looked at Hermione, she looked very annoyed with Riddle at the moment but overall she looked better than before the other company did her well, and then went back to glaring at Riddle. "She said she wanted to go to sleep, we should leave."

Cygnus thought about it, she could have just said that to get rid of Riddle or maybe she really was tired after all her visitors. His decision was made for him as Hermione pleaded, "Oh no, Cygnus you can stay, please." Cygnus was made unnecessarily happy by her plea and let it show as he strode to her bedside and taking her hand.

Riddle was very offended by this and he roughly grabbed the other boy's arm. The Head Boy hissed in the other Slytherin's ear "Do not interfere with my plans, Black." Pulling away from Cygnus' ear, Riddle graced Hermione with another perfectly fake smile before leaving.

Twin sighs were heard after Riddle's departure. Looked around the room and noticed the changes for the first time: a comfy looking chair that Riddle obviously transfigured and flowers on Hermione's bedside table. _'Flowers, dang it why didn't I think of that?'_

He would have to get some flowers for her later but that was not necessary right now. Instead he sat down in the transfigured chair and allowed Ivan to jump into his lap. Cygnus took a deep breath before starting the inevitable conversation, better sooner than later. "So Hermione, I've been thinking."

xxCBHGxx

'_Oh crap.'_ Hermione had the same reaction as anyone when she heard those words. She knew would lead to 'we need to talk' and if you ask anybody who has had those words directed at them before, especially from a significant other they will tell you that those are the worst words you will ever hear. Those words are usually followed by getting in trouble or lectured or… they just always lead to something bad

"I think we should talk about some things," he continued. The words made Hermione's stomach drop, a natural reaction. She tried to calm herself, she knew he only wanted to talk about the future. That road didn't look much more appealing than one about their relationship though. The future would be a tricky subject, only so many things can be revealed. Hermione had hidden and lied about certain things to Cygnus before even if she didn't like it but now that he knew it she felt much worse, she didn't want to lie anymore.

Hermione swallowed her fears and drug up her Gryffindor courage, "What things exactly?"

"Well first off what can I ask about the future without messing everything up? I don't want you to end up as one of those witches that accidently kills herself. And how did you end up fifty years in the past? I thought you could only go a few hours."

Hermione thought about that for a moment before deciding that she might as well answer a few questions, he already knew about the one thing that she could still mess up, taking out Riddle. "Well that is true, now. In my time someone created the time turner I used that utilized a different spell to send me back this far. The new spell created an alternate universe, so I can't really change anything in my timeline but I don't want to change too much here. So ask away and I'll answer the best I can."

"Well let's start with some easy things, I want to know about you," Cygnus said smiling, "I am your boyfriend so I think I should know at least some basic facts about you, the real you."

"Umm okay," Hermoine said surprised that that was what he wanted to know first. "First I want to cast a silencing charm so no one will hear us. This one isn't invented until the seventies though so we can't use it around anyone except us two, I want spell inventions to stay the same." Cygnus nodded in understanding and Hermione cast the _muffliato_ charm, mentally thanking Snape for being a genius. Once the charm was in place, Hermione organized her thoughts as Cygnus patiently waited, gazing at her expectantly as he pet Ivan.

"Well first things first," Hermione began, "My name is Hermione Jean Granger and I'm from London, England." Her eyes sparked with realization, "Speaking of which I would love to get rid of this American accent, I'll put it back on after this but for now I want to hear my own voice." Excitedly she cast the spell to remove the false accent from her voice and smiled. She turned back to Cygnus before speaking in her natural voice, "Oh this feels good, you never realize how much you will miss the little things until they are gone."

Cygnus watched as her face brightened at the sound of her voice. "That was a clever spell, I never realized your voice was fake but this sounds much better. Your voice matches you now, I like it." Hermione's cheeks took on a faint pink tinge at the compliment.

"Thank you, okay so I attended Hogwarts, obviously, and was sorted into Gryffindor."

"Of course you were," Cygnus smirked, "I wondered how you got into Slytherin since you are so obviously a lion or maybe even an eagle."

"The hat did consider Ravenclaw for a moment," Hermione admitted.

"So Granger… I've never heard of that family before are you a halfblood?" Hermione hesitated and thought to herself _'Why didn't I see this coming? Of course he'd want to know, will he still want to help me now?'_ Cygnus saw her hesitation, "A mud-muggleborn? It's okay if you are, if so you've pretty much shattered the stereotype," he assured her.

Hermione looked away from him, downcast, "But you'll always have your prejudices. I know how it works, you've been raised that way, to believe we are inferior no matter the evidence. Just like your grandson…" she mumbled the last part but Cygnus still heard.

"My grandson? You knew—of course you did, what was he like?" he asked cautiously.

"Yeah he was…" Hermione thought for a moment about answering but realized she had probably already messed up his relationship with Druella Rosier anyway, "He was an asshole to be honest, took after his father."

Cygnus chuckled, "Was he really? That's too bad, how did you meet my son?"

Hermione sighed, "I am probably breaking a million rules by telling you any of this but I guess traditional time travel laws don't apply here. You didn't have a son, three daughters. I meet your son in law when I ran into your grandson at the bookstore just before second year started."

Cygnus contemplated this, "Oh well I always wanted a son, not just cause of having an heir if that's what you're thinking. I guess daughters aren't that bad. Of course that may not happen in this timeline, I doubt I'll marry Druella this time. Don't look so surprised, my family has been planning the marriage for a while if I didn't marry then I would be very surprised."

"Are you still being arranged to marry her?" she asked coyly.

"No and not just because of this," he said gesturing to her current state of health, "After meeting you I realized I could never marry such a snob and told my parents as much."

Hermione's blush deepened as she thought about his words. A small smile graced her face as she remembered Orion's suggestion.

"_The family is very proud of the match and now can't wait to marry off everyone as well as Walburga and I. Cygnus' turn should be coming soon, what about you? Has your family made any plans? If not I'm sure Cygnus would be happy." Orion smirked at Hermione's embarrassed blush._

"_I am much too young to marry, we all are really. We should be focusing on school and careers."_

"_Mmhmm," Orion simply responded with a raised brow._

"Well good, she was not good enough for you," she complimented.

"Tell me some stories about your school life."

Hermione thought for a moment about her less than common school experiences. "Too much was wrapped up in some rather major events I can't tell you about just yet. I probably could but I want to be cautious since I'm sure Riddle already knows how to read minds. But I do remember one I could tell you about your grandson." Hermione's face brightened at the memory and tried to hold back her laughter. "He was being a jerk to one of my friends and our new DADA professor found us. He—he decided to transfigure your grandson into a ferret." She burst out laughing her and tried to compose herself for the rest of the story, "then he bounced him around and for the rest of fourth year we called him the Amazing Bouncing Ferret. The Gryffindors still call him ferret, I almost gave Malfoy a toy one as a joke but he wouldn't have understood. You see Abraxas is his paternal grandfather and they look and act so much alike I want to treat them the same way." At this point Cygnus laughing with her picturing Abraxas as a ferret.

"You should have done it just to confuse him. Maybe we should start calling him ferret as an inside joke. Okay I have to ask, threatening him in the forest?"

Hermione nodded, "Almost a reenactment of a incident in third year, but different place, different reason, and I actually ended up punching Draco."

"You punched a Malfoy? I would pay to see that even if he is my flesh and blood," he chuckled some more before continuing, "I guess we should talk about some other things now. Why Riddle? What did he do?"

Hermione sobered up, "He does a lot of things, horrid things I don't want to recount, that I don't have time to retell. He has already begun, he is the heir of Slytherin you know. He killed Myrtle along with his muggle father, grandparents, and they're just the ones we know about. By my time so many had died by his wand or the wands of his followers. My friends were dead or their families were gone. He targeted a particular friend of mine and he had to flee the school seventh year and I went along with a third friend, we were called the Golden Trio. I was given the chance to spy on Riddle here and then return with the information, the risk though was possibly being stuck in this new timeline and then changing my mission. I now have to stop him at all costs along with any others who may want to take his place and pose a similar threat to this timeline. My friends refused so I had to sneak away from them to come here."

Cygnus stayed quiet and listened attentively to her story, "You do realize you will have to kill him. Dolohov too I think, he would pose a threat maybe even Lestrange. Malfoy shouldn't be a problem, he'll stay with the winning side as will many of the others. Orion will follow my lead. But still, that's two maybe three people you'd have to kill."

"I realize this and I can do it, I have to," she said determined.

"Well you are not doing it alone, I'll help you. I can tell by your eyes that this is serious and I'll help. Besides pureblood supremacy means little to me now for obvious reasons." They looked at each other, soaking in what had been said and what it all meant before looking at the clock and seeing that curfew was fast approaching.

"We'll have to talk later, you need to get back to the dungeons," Hermione said quietly as she disarmed the silencing spell and replaced her American accent.

"Alright, I'll be back after classes tomorrow." Cygnus placed Ivan back on her cot as he stood, when he leaned over to give her a good night kiss he shocked Hermione with his next words, "Good night, I love you." Hermione was speechless and he left before she could regain the ability to speak, a ridiculously happy grin took over her face.

xxCBHGxx

Cygnus walked back to the dungeons with a much more relaxed pace than the one he used to leave them earlier. He was in deep thought over his words to Hermione as he left. Should he have said that? Sure they had been going out for a couple months but was it too soon? He wasn't thinking when he said them; they just kind of came out, spilled from his lips before he could catch them. She was silent afterwards and he left before he could see any other response. He hadn't even realized how deep his feelings were until right then. But on the other hand it felt so natural to say those words to her. And he was indeed serious about her, he was planning on helping her kill Riddle wasn't he? Oh gosh killing Riddle, he had to be in deep. Only a Gryffindor would do something so stupidly risky based on trust. He was a Slytherin for crying out loud! He only did things that benefitted him and this could easily lead to death or imprisonment. But he saw the look in her eyes, an emotion in them that could only be seen in the eyes of someone who had seen too much. He could only imagine the horrors, now that he knew that Riddle was the heir of Slytherin his mind wandered to the last known heirs; the Gaunts. That family, especially Morfin, was insane. The generations of inbreeding made them mad and Cygnus could only wonder about Riddle's mental stability.

Speak of the devil, Riddle was starting his prefect patrol just about ten feet in front of Cygnus. The later tried to hurry past the Head Boy hoping to avoid any conversation with the man he was beginning to hate. But luck was not on his side tonight.

"Black, over here, I want to speak with you before you return to the dorms." He walked into an abandoned classroom expecting Cygnus to follow.

Cygnus thought over the pros and cons of ignoring him before deciding not to piss off the dark wizard and followed. "What do you need, Riddle?"

Gray eyes narrowed as they always did when he was addressed by the muggle name, though he did not bother trying to hide it in front of Cygnus like he would around most. "Your relationship with Grim, did I not tell you that I was going to deal with her?"

"You did and I have not tried to persuade her as I did before." The very last was a lie, he never really did try to persuade her.

"Yes but you are still close to her, dating her."

"Is that a problem? I did not realize she was off limits," Cygnus growled.

"I thought it was implied, especially after I began flirting with her."

Cygnus allowed his anger to show, "You want to date her? I'm sorry to say she isn't interested in you, in fact she seemed all too happy to see you go tonight."

"You _will_ break up with her," Riddle demanded.

"I don't see why that is necessary for recruiting her."

"Perhaps I don't just want to recruit her. Think about it, though you probably already have, she's smart, powerful, and well connected. She would be very useful at my side."

"Sorry Riddle but no deal, unless she wants to leave me for you under her own free will she is mine."

And that was the first time Riddle _crucioed_ Cygnus Black.

xxCBHGxx

**AN: That last part wasn't planned the story just began writing itself right there, I hope that satisfies those wanting a love triangle I really did try to put that in here since it was a good idea but in this story Riddle is, as Dumbledore says, incapable of love.**

**I will now shamelessly ask for readers of my new Dramione one-shot ****Trelawney's Prophecy: The Dragon and The Traveler****, just a random little one shot I may write a multichapter Dramione that will be compatible but not necessarily a continuation. In one day it received more visitors than any of my other stories have all this month which may not be a lot but it is to me :) If you check it out please review and don't forget to review here too.**

**Also I want to take this chance to say that Word's grammar checker is challenged and has no idea what it's talking about.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A warning, I have written a total of three fight scenes: at the end of ****What the Witch Boy Wants ****which doesn't even count, a short tidbit in ****The Witch Boy Gets**** and the one earlier in this story. Thank you SweetAsHuney for the lovely review**

**Disclaimer: this wonderful magical world is not mine.**

Days passed and Hermione's recovery progressed as it should have. She spent her days doing her homework and soon she would be able to return to the dorms and class. But while Hermione grew stronger Cygnus was suffering.

Each day he refused to give into Riddle's wishes Cygnus was cursed for a slightly longer amount of time than the day before. And each day after Riddle released the curse Cygnus would sneak away and later go see Hermione in the infirmary when he thought Riddle wouldn't notice. Cygnus Black was not a Gryffindor, he wasn't going to openly defy the young dark wizard as that would be as good as suicide.

Hermione noticed the change of hours her boyfriend spent with her, much less and much more random than before. He told her he had a lot of homework to do and could not come as often as he would like. Hermione would nod her head and smile despite knowing full well that Cygnus could handle the workload, that his eyes were that of someone being tortured. She had seen that look in the eyes of Voldemort's victims before, it was all too familiar to her as a friend of Harry Potter. It was very hard for Hermione not to talk about it, to not devise a way to stop it but she didn't. She never mentioned it to him and he never brought it up. Riddle would pay for his crimes here and in her own timeline soon.

The day Hermione convinced Madame Zaina that she was well enough to return to school Eileen came to deliver some clothes and news.

"Professor Slughorn placed some protection spells on your bed, none of the girls can hurt you know when you sleep," Eileen informed while Hermione changed clothes in a small room.

"Well that's good," Hermione said though she wished she would be moved to another room, "I'll probably put up a few of my own though, just in case."

Eileen gave an amused smile, "Yes Slughorn is much better at potions than spells, casting some of your own would be smart." Eileen looked as she always did but there was something off in her eyes. Most would never have noticed the change in the small quiet girl but Hermione did when she came out of the small room.

"Something wrong, Eileen?"

"Oh I'm sure it's nothing," the younger witch replied, surprised that she had noticed.

"No you're worried about something," Hermione crossed her arms and looked at her friend sternly, "Tell me, Eileen, I'll find out sooner or later anyway."

Eileen sighed, "It's Cygnus, he just hasn't been looking… himself lately. He's been really stressed and tired. But I'm sure it'll pass especially now that you're all better," she ended with a reassuring smile.

Hermione tried to smile back while looking just the appropriate amount of worried as thoughts flew around in her head. Whatever Riddle was doing to Cygnus was breaking him down slowly. As a Slytherin and a Black, Cygnus knew how to hide things like this, to keep his emotions and worries buried deep. The stress of knowing about the future, of being in on an assassination attempt in the works, and whatever Riddle was doing was too much. She scolded herself, told herself she should have kept her mouth shut; the burden was hers to bear and no one else's. But Eileen was an observant girl so maybe no one else had noticed, maybe it wasn't as bad as her mind made it seem.

Cygnus and his dilemma was at the forefront of her mind as she and Eileen made their way to the Slytherin common room. It was still early enough in the evening that students were still roaming the halls, some even hurrying off to class. Every Slytherin she passed gave her some acknowledgement, happy that she was well even if the happiness was merely a courtesy. A good number of Ravenclaws who admired her intelligence did the same as did a handful of kind Hufflepuffs. The whole school knew of her accident and thought it was horrible. The Gryffindors were the only ones who completely ignored her as the house rivalry dictated. When the two witches arrived at the entrance to the common room Hermione felt relief and a small sort of happiness of returning to where she belonged. The former Gryffindor laughed to herself, she never thought she would miss the dungeons but after spending so much time in the infirmary she had never felt more relieved.

Eileen hissed the password—'_slithering serpent, very original'_ Hermione thought sarcastically—and the two entered the now familiar common room. Hermione's eyes adjusted to the dim green lamp light as she entered the grand room. She very badly wanted to sit on the inviting looking leather couches but was distracted as she noticed the atmosphere. The Slytherin dungeons could always be described as cold and not just in temperature, but now there was a tension as the eyes of her housemates quickly and stealthily darted between Hermione, Cygnus, and Riddle.

Hermione's hopes that no one else had noticed Cygnus' behavior died with those eyes.

Riddle was sitting by the fireplace in a high back black leather chair that many could consider to be his throne. He gave her a falsely warm smile inviting her to join him in his solitude. In the other corner of the room Cygnus sat at a small square table with Orion sitting across from him. Orion was leaning back in his chair trying to look nonchalant about everything like he usually did. He was very convincing but something in his face reminded her of Sirius when he was worried about something making her wonder if Cygnus told his cousin anything and how much. Cygnus was hunched over his school work looking at her happy that she was feeling so well but there was still that tortured look in his dark blue-black eyes. Hermione took note of the dark circles under his eyes, how he seemed to have lost so much weight, and the way his eyes kept flickering towards Riddle with subtle hatred. Hermione felt he heart break at the thought that she somehow caused this. Telling him the future was a bad idea, the worst she ever had. Her heart stopped when a new thought popped into her head, _'Did Riddle find something out? Did he read Cygnus' mind?'_ That would certainly explain a thing or two, but why was she still alive then? It would have been so easy for Riddle to give her some potion or other that made it look like she died of an infection, not uncommon in the forties.

Hermione crossed the room to sit in the chair next to Cygnus and Eileen followed. She sat down and placed a hand on her boyfriend's back noticing out of the corner of her eye that Riddle was glaring in their direction now while the rest of the room's occupants looked on with curiosity. She felt Cygnus stiffen under her hand as he suffered under the dark wizard's glare.

Eileen leaned over the table to whisper in Hermione's ear, "Riddle wants to date you and Cygnus told him off, you're so lucky you have the two cutest guys in Hogwarts fighting over you."

Orion heard her not so quiet whisper, "Well what about me Eileen?" The shy fifth year blushed furiously when she realized someone overheard and dropped her eyes. Orion snickered and sent Eileen a playfully flirty look that reminded Hermione of Sirius.

"Stop teasing her Orion, what would Walburga say?"

"Oh she won't mind, right Cyg?" Cygnus didn't answer he was just staring at his paper thinking about something very hard. Orion snapped his fingers in his cousin's face and 'woke' him up.

"Oh sorry guys, I was just spacing out for a second."

Hermione decided that waiting for him to talk about it was a bad thing. "Hey I'm going to put my books in my room you want to go out for a walk?"

"Uh I don't really feel like it…"

"How about the Astronomy tower? Please?" Cygnus huffed and relented, nodding that he would go. Hermione kissed his check and rushed to her room. She hurried wanting to get Cygnus alone as soon as possible but stopped when she entered the room to find her roommates all in there, turning to stare at her.

Druella glared daggers at the girl who had ruined her chances with Cygnus only being held back by the fact that she knew Hermione could easily hex her into next week. Eleanor Crabbe followed suit but Cynthia surprisingly gave her a sympathetic look. Hermione placed her books and bag on her bed before slowly leaving the room and rushing back to Cygnus.

xxCBHGxx

The evening air was cool and the setting sun painted the sky with the colors of twilight. The two teens walked to the edge of the tower hand in hand, the same place where they had their first kiss.

"Cygnus, what has Riddle been doing to you?" Hermione asked not beating around the bush.

He folded his arms across his chest and leaned over the edge. "What makes you think he is doing something?"

"I grew up in a world where he grew close to power; I have fought him over the course of my entire adolescence. Trust me, I can tell."

He dropped his head, "Am I that obvious?"

"It's not your fault," she assured coming closer to him, "his methods are cruel and have broken down some of the greatest wizards of all time. While at the peak of his power he made Gellert Grindelwald look like a temperamental Chihuahua." This simile made Cygnus laugh a little and Hermione smiled. "It's nice to hear you laugh again. I shouldn't have told you anything, you didn't need to be dragged into this and now you're being punished."

"Punished? How?" A look of realization entered his dark eyes, "Oh, no this has nothing to do with what you told me. _This_ would have happened anyway."

"But why? Did you upset him? And what's with Eileen's story about Riddle wanting to date me?"

"That's exactly it," Cygnus turned to look at his girlfriend's confused face, "Riddle doesn't just want to recruit you, he wants to date you. He told me to break up with you and I said no."

Hermione looked up at him incredulously, "He's doing _this_ because of _that_." Cygnus nodded and Hermione began to get a little pissed off with Riddle. Sure she always hated him for what he did but this was on a more personal level. "Who the Hell does Snake-face think he is? He's always been a controlling asshole but what makes him think he can do things like this? Does he not realize that there are consequences for his actions? I just can't believe anyone…" Hermione continued to mumble angrily with her hands forming tight fists.

Cygnus listened to her rant for a moment before ending it, "What did you call him?" Hermione stopped talking and gave her boyfriend a questioning look. "I think it was Snake-face? A rather creative name I must say."

"Oh," she said, understanding now, "Well not really, my friends call him that in the future."

He cocked his head to the said as he asked, "Why?"

"Because in my time he has turned into a half man, half snake monster. He quite literally is no longer human."

Cygnus blanched, "H-how did that happen? Was it voluntary?"

"Not exactly, see when he needed a new body they had been using snake venom to keep him alive. That along with his soul being ripped in half so many times led to his new body being serpent-like."

Cygnus stared at her for a few seconds clearly trying to wrap his head around this wild tale. "Okay… You mind explaining a few things…"

"It is a really long story but I'll give you the basics. Voldemort created horcruxes to make himself immortal, he has already created two. To create them you must rip your soul in half through murder. Voldemort's body had been destroyed at the end of the First Wizarding War and he needed a new one. As long as at least one horcrux exists he will live."

Cygnus took a few minutes to digest this and went into deep thought. "Do you know where his horcruxes are? I'm assuming we should get rid of them."

"Yes well the second was the Gaunt ring which I know he is currently wearing, we'll have to destroy it quickly after we kill him," Cygnus flinched a little at the mention of killing someone, he had lived in peaceful times. "The first is his diary which he eventually gave to the Malfoy family for hiding but he may still have it in his possession."

"Okay so we need to get into his room without anyone noticing and have enough time to search the room." Hermione nodded, "We could get a distraction to keep him away but how to get in."

"We need someone he trusts that we trust to go in with him before he leaves for the distraction. I _could_ do it-"

"No." Cygnus commanded sternly, "I don't want him thinking he has a chance who knows what he'd do if he had you alone for even a moment."

Hermione smiled, "I know you're trying to protect me but I can handle myself."

He shook his head vigorously, "His maternal family was not mentally stable and I don't trust him."

Hermione thought for a moment, "What if we just got him to open the door then the distraction happened? It would be tricking getting it done so quickly since we don't want him to hear anyone sneaking after him."

Cygnus began to pace around the tower. "I'm sure Orion could help, Riddle still trusts him. He could be waiting at the dorms, ask Riddle to come with him, and you convince Riddle to let you in while you are waiting."

Hermione thought for a moment, "I guess that would work it seems too simple though."

"Sometimes simplicity is best," Cygnus remarked.

Hermione remembered Orion's worried look earlier, "How much does Orion know?"

"About the future? Nothing, he only knows that Riddle has begun to _punish_ me lately. But he trusts me and he'll do this after I talk to him."

Hermione sat down on the ground, once again observing the setting sun, and tried to relax. Stress had been a constant companion throughout her life in the wizarding world, she couldn't remember what it was like to relax but after all this she would learn.

"I'm telling you this will work," Cygnus insisted believing her thoughts were still on his plan with Orion.

"I'm sure it will I just… I can't believe after so long it'll finally be over. Truth is I don't know what I'll do now that the bane of my existence will be gone," the brunette admitted, "That of course is assuming we succeed and _live_, so many things can go wrong."

"Don't talk like that," Cygnus exclaimed as he rushed her side, sitting down wrapping his arms around her, "We have a plan and after a few days this will all be over, I promise."

Hermione laid her head on his shoulder, "I hope you're right, for everyone's sake."

Cygnus turned her in his arms and kissed her deeply. "Everything is going to be alright."

xxCBHGxx

The next day in between classes Cygnus pulled Orion aside to tell him that they needed to meet outside during their shared off period later on in the day and Orion agreed to come.

Cygnus sat through his classes distracted after that wondering exactly how he'd word things in his discussion. Yes his cousin trusted him but it was not a blind trust and when it came to something like this Cygnus had to hope for the best. Hermione looked rather distracted as well but she could only sit there and hope Cygnus knew what he was doing.

Finally his off period had come and Cygnus left the classroom at a brisk pace to meet Orion outside. He only had to wait a few minutes before his cousin arrived.

"So what was it we needed to talk about? Are you going to give me the threatening-overprotective-brother speech because I really don't need it."

"No, that's not it," as happy as he was about the upcoming wedding he couldn't help but be annoyed that it was now practically the only thing that was talked about in his family. "This is something completely different, come on let's walk and talk."

After they were a good distance away from the castle Cygnus began talking.

"I need a favor for you, you may get in trouble but I need you to do this."

Orion looked at him suspiciously, "What do you need?"

"I just need you to distract Riddle when he takes Hermione up to his room. She needs to get in there so wait until after he opens the door or something, just make sure she's in and he's not."

"May I ask why?"

"There's something in there that we need."

"And she can't just ask? What are you up to?"

"You'll get into more trouble if you know, it's for a prank," Cygnus lied smoothly.

Orion's eyes widened, "After what he's been doing to you? Are you insane?"

"It's not for him, he just has something we need. Even if he's mad about it he won't know it was me and Hermione's clever enough not to make herself suspect. He won't suspect a thing."

Orion just stared at him, "Still, stealing from Riddle. You know there are more pleasant ways to commit suicide."

Cygnus laughed mirthlessly though he tried not to let that show, "Just help me with this."

Orion hadn't been in on a good prank for a while and neither Cygnus nor Hermione were stupid enough to do anything to get on, or in Cygnus' case, even further on Riddle's bad side. "Alright do you have anything in mind?"

"No, anything you want just make sure it takes a long time."

Orion rubbed his hands together mischievously, "Good, this will be fun."

xxCBHGxx

Hermione was not looking forward to her role of the plan at all but it wouldn't be the first time she did something unpleasant for the cause. And this time all she had to do was talk to him until they reached his room and then he'd be gone. She had told him at dinner the night before that she wanted to talk to him about his cause and he readily told her to meet him in the common room the next day.

Well the next day was here and she was with Eileen again at a two person table where they were looking over the younger witch's arithmancy text book. She was having trouble in that class and Hermione was going over a few things with her. She looked up every few minutes to see if Riddle had finished talking to Malfoy yet. Every time she saw that he was not she would be frustrated; she just wanted to get this over with. Then she looked to see him ready to go and she prayed to every deity she could think of that Malfoy would come back with something else to talk about.

She bade Eileen farewell and followed Riddle out of the common room ignoring the eyes of the other Slytherins. Hermione hoped they would be silent on the walk to his room but alas he always loved to hear himself talk. And he didn't just talk, he flirted.

Hermione had to admit that Riddle could be quite charming when he wanted to be. If she had not known him as Voldemort she would have been taken in and convinced of his disguise as the perfect student just like everyone else.

When they finally arrived at the Head dorms Hermione was feeling nervous. _'Orion where are you?'_ Riddle let her in first and she was greeted by the sight of a cozy little common room done up in Slytherin green and silver and Hufflepuff black and yellow. The Head Girl, Betty Cinch, was nowhere to be seen to Hemrione's relief.

"Come, take a seat," Riddle said smoothly before being interrupted by a loud knock on the door. Riddle growled and Hermione mentally thanked Orion, taking note that she needed to thank him out loud soon.

The Head Boy throw the door open as politely as he could to see Orion panting as if he ran there, "Riddle, come quick, we need you up on the seventh floor now."

Riddle looked at him annoyed, "Black I'm in the middle of something."

"Sorry but both Dumbledore and Dippet are waiting for you." And with that the boys departed.

'_Dumbledore and Dippet? What on earth did that boy do?'_ She did not allow her mind to linger on the question for very long as she needed to find the diary as soon as possible. As homey as the room felt, thanks to Betty no doubt, she was not comfortable here.

Hermione had learned how to detect the magic of a horcrux while on the run with Harry and Ron and quickly located the diary in his room high on a bookshelf. It was warded with the most advanced wards and spells of the time. Thankfully Hermione was not only the brightest witch of her age but her age was fifty years in the future. All but a couple of the wards were child's play to take down. Once the book could be safely removed Hermione did so and placed it into her beaded bag before leaving the Head dorms as fast as she could.

xxCBHGxx

Hermione kept the diary in her bag which she kept on her person at all times. She and Cygnus decided to wait a few days until the excitement died down. There was a chance Riddle would feel his horcrux being destroyed since his soul was only in three pieces, much easier to track than seven. Destroying the diary immediately would have been a stupid and dangerous decision. They were going to wait until the day they were going to kill Riddle to destroy it. Dumbledore still insisted on knowing as little as possible but understood about the horcrux, he said he had something that could destroy it besides a basilisk fang.

Riddle was upset to find Hermione gone when he went back to his room after Orion's distraction. Hermione had no idea ahead of time what it was but quickly heard many stories about what happened though Orion's involvement other than retrieving Riddle as unknown. Apparently he convinced a bunch of fourth and fifth years to play various, rather nasty pranks on the Gryffidors. What kind of pranks varied with the rumors but whatever they were they made Dippet feel as if he needed the presence of the Head Boy and current Slytherin king.

When said Slytherin asked Hermione to return to the Head Dorms for their discussion she claimed she was very busy for the rest of the week. Turning she left a frustrated Riddle as she tried to come up with various activities to keep her busy should Riddle ask again.

Days later and their moment had finally arrived. The familiar feeling of preparing for battle filled Hermione's being. It was a feeling she would never miss once it was gone for good. Oh how she prayed this would work. Cygnus and she were in Dumbledore's office with Fawkes. Cygnus paced the office as they waited for the signal from Dumbledore. Hermione had recreated the DA coins which would now send the signal. In front of Hermione was the diary and in her hand was the sword of Gryffindor that she had happily pulled from the hat. The tip of its blade was coated in venom very similar to the basilisk's. Dumbledore had given both Riddle and Dolohov detention for snapping at other students—thanks to a irritation hex Hermione cast, though Riddle took a while to finally snap through his perfect mask—and was taking them to an abandoned wing of the castle to give them some task or another. Once Dumbledore had the boys where they wanted them he would give the signal to the two teens in his office. Hermione would stab the diary, destroy the soul inside, and they would run like crazy through the secret passageways to finish this.

Hermione took deep breathes to steady her hands and her heartbeat. "Soon… soon this will all be over." She gave a mirthless laugh as unwanted memories of her past, a future with Voldemort flitted in front of her eyes.

She lifted those eyes to see Cygnus still pacing. He didn't look as put together as usual, didn't even bother styling his hair. Instead black bangs hung in front of his eyes and his buttoned up black collared shirt was wrinkled. He looked rather attractive this way other than the obvious worry and fear in his face but now was not the time to think of that.

Hermione however did get up from her spot on the floor, placing the sword next to the diary, and walked over to Cygnus. She grabbed his hand, pulling him out of his reverie and to a stop. He turned to face her fully when she threw herself in to his arms, burying her face into the crook of his neck. He happily obliged and embraced her. They stood there for a few moments when Cygnus finally spoke.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," he chuckled without humor.

Hermione looked up at him and placed a hand on his check. "You don't know how grateful I am that you are. Cygnus I love you." His eyes widened in surprise, neither of them had even brought up his words that day in the infirmary before he ran into Riddle. They were both so busy with everything that had been going on.

"I love you too, Hermione." He dipped his head towards hers and captured her lips in an innocent and chaste kiss. Very quickly, though, the kiss deepened and became more passionate until they were interrupted by the burning coin in Hermione's pocket. "Perfect timing," Cygnus mumbled as Hermione reluctantly pulled away from his arms.

She looked at him with a pleased smile on her face, "Come on we'll continue after this." She leaned over to pick up the sword and held the tip over the diary, preparing to thrust the blade into the leather cover. Cygnus walked over and wrapped his hands over hers as they gripped the sword's hilt fiercely. They both lifted the sword higher before stabbing it into the first horcrux causing inky blood to flow profusely out of the leather bound pages.

xxCBHGxx

Riddle and Dolohov were cleaning out a back room, insulting the Transfiguation professor under their breathe as usual, when Riddle felt an extreme pain in his abdomen.

'_What the Hell?'_ Riddle was forced to endure this pain for a few minutes before Dumbledore rose from his seat.

"I have something to go check on, if you would please stay here, it'll only be a moment." As soon as the elder wizard was out of the room Dolohov began insulting him more loudly.

"Stupid old codger, idiotic fool."

"Oh please Antonin, this isn't your first time in detention, I don't want to hear your whining."

Dolohov looked a little miffed at that comment and then wondered something, "Don't Dippet and Slughorn get you out of any detention you might get? What happened this time?"

"Dumbledore was adamant that I be punished," Riddle scoffed. "The fool was waiting for me to get in trouble, he wanted this to happen."

Dolohov pondered this for a moment before realizing a very important fact, "Isn't the wing of the castle forbidden?"

"Technically." Riddle and Dolohov pulled out their wands, paranoid and ready as they heard footsteps. But unfortunately for them the two teens that had just arrived were ready as well.

Hermione cast a tongue—tying curse on Riddle and Cygnus threw a conjunctivitus curse and a jelly fingers curse at Dolohov. The later wizard tried his best to grip his wand properly before aiming his wand at his attacker. "Locomotor Mortis."

Cygnus stumbled about before bracing himself against a wall and then sent a jack—legs curse right back at Dolohov. He turned to see Hermione struggling in her fight against Riddle where she had once again used that extreme cutting curse she had used on Dolohov in DADA. Only this time she did not stop at one cut on his leg, no she was covering him in bloody wounds. Riddle collected his thoughts long enough to throw a small blasting curse at her feet as a distraction before casting a very large fiendfyre curse.

The flames were everywhere, Riddle was bleeding at a fatal rate, and Dolohov had been caught by the flames unable to move thanks to Cygnus' curse. Hermione weaved her way through the flames and landed next to where Cygnus had ended up, futilely casting aguamenti charms around her. She was weak and weary from her duel and Cygnus was definitely in better shape. But Dolohov's curse was strong and he still could not move, not to mention that they were surrounded on all sides by unstoppable walls of flame.

The two teens held on to one another as the flames encroached and their vision turned black.

**Short epilogue coming soon**


	7. Epilogue

**Well this is it**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned this but I don't**

Date: June 5, 1980

An older couple hurried away from their unfinished dinner to the fireplace after reading the contents of a letter. They only took the time to pay the owl before grabbing a floo bag with large smiles on their faces.

As they reached the fireplace the woman with graying honey brown hair looked up at the mantle to see the pictures of her family. Her urgency was momentarily forgotten as memories overwhelmed her. After fulfilling the mission the teachers and students of Hogwarts mourned the loss of their 'perfect' Head Boy and his friend. They were outraged with the fire's two survivors for causing the deaths but before they left the hospital wing Dumbledore had proven that Riddle's wand cast the fatal curse and that all four students were equally involved in the fight. Hermione and Cygnus were able to convince the authorities that it was all in self defense backing it up with stories of Riddle's recent jealousy and Dolohov's past of aggressive behavior.

Time marched on. It saw the future death eaters loss their nerve without their charismatic leader. What was to be the most violent generation graduated from Hogwarts subdued and as generally good citizens, even if they still had superiority complexes. Hermione watched as the grandparents of her former classmates married just as they should have. The one marriage she loathed was that of Eileen Prince to the abusive Tobias Snape but as soon as Severus was born Hermione gave her an out she did not have in her original timeline.

Only two unexpected marriages happened: Hermione and Cygnus of course and Druella Rosier to Alphard who died a bachelor in the original timeline. They were married around the same time and even had their first child within weeks of each other. Hermione gave birth to a little boy with black hair and baby blues that darkened to match his father's, his name was Aries. Druella had a little girl named Bellatrix. Hermione and Cygnus would go on to have three more children: Andromeda, Narcissa, and Cepheus.

The fact that the Black sisters, Cygnus and Druella's children from the original timeline, were born shocked Hermione. It was impossible and yet there they were. Their appearance and personalities varied a little from the originals but there was no doubt that these were essentially the same girls. These three girls proved Hermione once and for all that there was such thing as fate. Hermione loved them all as she should and was heartbroken to see that her niece was still a strong supporter of blood supremacy. Thankfully there was no Voldemort to fuel her fire, no trip to Azkaban to make her go insane this time around. Though marrying Rodolphus LeStrange did make her a bit more vocal about her views.

Andromeda, or An as she was commonly called by her mother, ran away with Ted Tonks to the surprise of everyone except Hermione and Cygnus who knew ahead of time. The Black family was furious and effectively disowned her, the only exceptions being those who knew of Hermione's status as a muggle-born, including her children, Orion, and eventually Sirius. To everyone else she remained the pure-blood Hermione Grim, it was just easier this way, not to mention time travel was illegal and could get her thrown in jail.

"Darling we need to get going," Cygnus said breaking his wife out of her trance.

"Sorry I was just thinking." Hermione took some floo powder from her husband and stepped into the fire. "St. Mungo's!"

xxCBHBxx

As she arrived at the hospital she caught sight of her sons and the eldest's daughters—Carina and Hydra. She walked over to them with Cygnus quickly following behind.

"How is everyone?" she asked in a very maternal voice, her British accent back in place after enough years passed to make it believable that it had naturally developed.

"Everyone's fine Mum," Cepheus replied. He was a young man just out of Hogwarts that looked a lot like his mother with honey brown curly hair and soft brown eyes. He was also their only child not to be placed into Slytherin, instead he was sorted into Ravenclaw. "An can't make it though, Nymphadora has a fever."

"I bet she's not happy, Dora is way too hyper to stay in bed all day," Cygnus commented. "So are we having another little princess in the family," he asked as he hoisted the older granddaughter up into his arms, "or a future strapping young wizard."

"It's a boy, Dad," Aries answered as he dragged a curious three year old Hydra away from playing with a lady's purse. Just then a healer came in and said that visitors were now permitted. The Black family followed to the maternity suite where they saw Narcissa laying in bed with Lucius sitting next to her. As the young woman smiled in greeting to her family her husband continued to look onto the bundle in her arms with pride.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy," the new father announced. The family tried their best to catch a good look at the boy who already bore a striking resemblance to his father and every other male in the Malfoy line.

Hermione took a step back and watched her family in their happiness. She was younger than her children when he gave up all hope of having this. A family she loved more than life itself and a husband who loved her even more than that. Never did she imagine she could have all this. She wondered what her friends and family of her past life would say if they saw her now.

Guilt lived within her whenever she thought of them, how she left them without a single good bye. There was a time just after Hogwarts where she went into a depression as her memories of that timeline became less clear. She could no longer remember all of Ron and Ginny's freckles, the twins' laughter as they watched a prank unfold, or the look in Harry's eyes after he would catch the snitch. They will all have been born now or very soon but even if she saw them it would not be the same. She began to ponder if anyone would notice the similarities between Hermione Grim and Hermione Granger. That was a bridge she never wanted to cross…

"Mum?"

Hermione's mind returned to the present, "Yes Cissy?"

"Would you like to hold him?"

"Of course I would." Hermione walked over and took the small newborn up into her arms. She sat down and stroked his soft platinum blonde hair and looked into his big baby blues that were already fading into the characteristic shade of gray that Hermione knew long ago, in another life.

She cradled him in her arms and remembered the boy that tortured her in school. But she could not reconcile that boy with the little angel in her arms. That boy made her sneer at the sight of him, this boy made her heart swell with unconditional love. Perhaps he, like his mother, would not be so snobbish, maybe he wouldn't feel the need to belittle people this time around.

She heard the rest of her family inquiring after Cissy's health and Lucius teasingly asked Cepheus when his turn would come. Hermione ignored them for the moment and leaned down so she could coo into her grandson's ear, "Welcome to the world, my little ferret."

**I told you it would be short. I just had to add an epilogue, I know it's fluffy and idealistic for the most part but I couldn't stand to kill off Draco, I love him too much. And I was told if I killed Bellatrix I'd have a mob after me.**

**I have a Dramione story starting and would like support if you're interested it is called Dearest Ferret.**

**So this is where people who hardly review decide to put at least one thing up at the end, if you need help finding out how all you have to do is click the blue words below this**

**Auf Wiedersehen**


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